THE 
TRUE  STORY  OF  GEORGE   ELIOT 


' '  It  is  too  possible  that  to  some  of  my  readers 
Methodism  may  mean  nothing  more  than  low- 
pitched  gables  up  dingy  streets,  sleek  grocers, 
sponging  preachers  and  hypocritical  jargon  ele- 
ments, which  are  regarded  as  an  exhaustive 
analysis  of  Methodism  in  many  fashionable 
quarters. 

''  That  would  be  a  pity;  for  I  cannot  pretend 
that  Seth  and  Dinah  were  anything  else  but 
Methodists,  not  indeed  of  that  modern  type 
which  reads  quarterly  reviews  and  attends  in 
chapels  with  pillared  porticoes;  but  of  a  very 
old-fashioned  kind.  They  believed  in  present 
miracles,  in  instantaneous  conversions,  in  reve- 
lations by  dreams  and  visions;  they  drew  lots, 
and  sought  for  Divine  guidance  by  opening  the 
liible  at  hazard ;  having  a  literal  way  of  inter- 
preting the  Scriptures,  which  is  not  at  all 
sanctioned  by  approved  commentators;  and  it 
is  impossible  for  me  to  represent  their  diction  as 
correct,  or  their  instruction  as  liberal.  Still — if 
I  have  read  religious  history  aright — faith,  hope 
and  charity  have  not  always  been  found  in  a 
direct  ratio  with  a  sensibility  to  the  three  con- 
cords ;  and  it  is  possible,  thank  Heaven  !  to  have 
very  erroneous  theories  and  very  sublime 
feelings." 

George  Eliot  in  Adam  Brdc, 

Chapter  III. 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY    T 

OF 


/ 


GEORGE    ELIOT. 
I'rora  a  painting  by  M.  D'Albert  Duraclc. 


THE  TRUE   STORY 

OF 

GEORGE    ELIOT 

IN  RELATION  TO  *«ADAM  BEDE/'  GIVING  THE 

REAL  LIFE    HISTORY   OF  THE   MORE 

PROMINENT  CHARACTERS 

BY 

WILLIAM    MOTTRAM 

{Grand  Nephenv  of  Adam  and  Seth  Bede  and  Cousin  to  the  Author) 


WITH    EIGHTY-SIX   ILLUSTRATIONS 

Mainly  front  Photographs  by  Allan  P.  Mottram,  B.Sc.y  and 
Vernon  H.  Mottram.  B.A. 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 

A.  C.  McCLURG    &    CO. 

1906 


American  Edition  Published  October  /j,  igo6 


r'rn^ 


mi 


DEDICATION 

To  the  fond  mother  through  whom  six  sons  and  three 
daughters  shared  direct  descent  from  Thias  and 
Lisbeth  Bede ;  and  held  near  kinship  with  Adam  Bede , 
Seth  Bede,  and  George  Ehot — in  grateful  memory  of 
her  self-sacrificing  love  to  us  all,  of  her  prayerl  for  us 
as  children,  her  life-long  service  of  husband,  home  and 
family,  and  of  her  holy  life  and  beautiful  death  in 
association  with  the  church  she  loved  so  well  from 
youth  to  old  age — this  volume  is  affectionately  inscribed 
by  one  who  more  and  more  feels  that  though  his 
mother  may  be  dead  to  all  the  world ,  she  is  never  dead 
to  him. 


161581 


PKEFACE 


In  the  pages  of  a  written  book,  he  who  writes  and  they 
who  read  are  brought  into  intellectual  companionship 
for  the  time  being.  I  deem  it,  therefore,  desirable 
that  the  reader  should  be  taken  into  the  writer's^ 
confidence  as  to  the  inception  and  growth  of  his  book, 
and  this  is  what  I  propose  to  do  in  the  preface  I  am 
now  writing. 

Many  years  ago,  on  one  of  my  visits  to  the  farm- 
house in  Staffordshire,  where  my  mother  was  still 
living  in  the  dear  old  home,  she  startled  me  by  asking  : 
"  William,  have  you  read  my  cousin's  book?"  "  What 
book,  mother?"  said  I  in  return,  to  which  she  replied 
*'  Adam  Bede."  I  had  to  confess  that  though  I  had 
heard  of  the  book  I  had  not  read  it.  In  truth,  my  own 
busy  life  in  the  west,  as  pastor  of  a  church  and  Tem- 
perance reformer,  left  me  but  little  time  for  miscel- 
laneous reading.  Moreover,  I  think  I  should  have 
accorded  in  feeling  with  that  saying  of  George  Eliot, 
which  declares  :  ' '  For  my  own  spiritual  good  I  need 
all  other  sort  of  reading,  more  than  I  need  fiction." 
Nevertheless,  learning  from  the  lips  of  my  mother  that 
the  prototype  of  Adam  Bede  was  my  mother's  uncle 
Kobert,  and  that  Seth  Bede  represented  her  uncle 
Samuel,  while  the  real  Dinah  Morris  was  none  other 


X  PREFACE 

than  the  aunt  whose  praises  I  had  heard  from  my 
mother's  Kps  hundreds  of  times,  naturally  I  made 
haste  to  possess  and  read  the  volume. 

Partly  to  please  my  mother,  and  partly  to  gratify  my 
own  desires,  I  began  to  visit  several  of  her 
relations  in  Ashbourne,  Wirksworth,  Nottingham, 
Sheffield  and  Warwickshire,  and  was  kindly  received 
in  the  home  of  the  authoress  herself.  I  also  collected 
all  the  facts  I  could  discover  relating  to  the  real  life  of 
members  of  the  Bede  family,  and  gathered  multitudes 
of  books  and  papers  which  in  any  way  concerned  their 
history.  I  had  no  intention  of  using  my  material  for 
any  public  purpose,  further  than  to  entertain  a  drawing 
room  party,  or  to  instruct  the  young  people  of  my  own 
charge.  In  the  autumn  of  1887  I  w^as  called  to  the 
metropolis  as  described  on  page  30  of  this  volume. 
The  church  there  referred  to  was  situated  in  Borougli 
Eoad,  Southwark,  and  the  Lambeth  Baths  mission, 
which  attracted  five  thousand  attendances  every  w^eek, 
was  held  in  a  huge  swimming  bath,  situated  in  a  street 
usually  designated  the  New  Cut.  I  was  pastor  of  the 
church  and  superintendent  of  the  mission.  The  meet- 
ings of  the  latter  commenced  each  October  and  closed 
in  the  following  April,  the  bath  only  being  required  for 
sw^imming  during  the  summer  months.  Nowhere  in 
the  metropolis  could  there  be  found  more  poverty- 
stricken  districts  than  West  Southwark  and  North 
Lambeth.  The  needs  of  the  people  pressed  on  me 
as  a  nightmare.  My  lecture,  entitled  :  "  An  Evening 
with  Adam  Bede  "  was  an  expedient  to  raise  funds  for 
their  relief.  Never  can  I  forget  the  joy  it  brought  to 
my  heart  to  be  able  thus  to  help  my  suffering  fellow- 
creatures.  Success  was  immediate,  and  it  continued  as 
long  as  I  was  able  to  carry  on  the  mission.     Eelief  dis- 


PREFACE  xi 

tribution  is  a  difficult  and  perplexing  business.  I  fear 
my  administration  was  not  scientific.  Discrimination 
is  difficult  in  dealing  with  a  crowd.  In  presence  of 
semi-starvation,  accentuated  one  dismal  winter  by  long 
continued  frost  and  snow,  the  laws  of  political  economy 
stand  at  a  discount.  In  such  circumstances,  you  make 
no  account  whether  the  applicant  be  Protestant  or 
Catholic,  Churchman  or  Dissenter,  Conservative,  Radi- 
cal, or  Socialist.  When  a  fellow-creature  stands  before 
you  hungry  and  cold,  you  cannot  refuse  help  though 
you  may  be  conscious  that  the  recipient  has  been  free 
with  the  Decalogue ,  or  has  brought  on  his  starvation  by 
the  love  of  strong  drink.  It  is  an  exquisite  delight  to 
me  now  to  remember  those  past  nine  .years  of  service , 
and  to  think  of  the  part  Dinah  Morris  had  with  me  in 
this  beneficent  administration  among  the  sick,  the 
workless  multitude,  the  widows  and  the  children. 
Dinah's  prototype  was  always  caring  for  the  poor. 
The  soul  of  my  lecture  was  the  real  Dinah ,  and  I  have 
ever  felt  that  to  minister  to  the  needy  that  saintly 
woman  would  be  willing  to  walk  the  earth  once  more. 
Since  I  gave  up  my  London  mission  the  lecture  has 
been  delivered  in  many  parts  of  the  country  as 
well  as  in  the  metropolitan  area.  On  one  of  these  oc- 
casions a  valued  friend  heard  it  and  at  once  importuned 
me  to  write  a  series  of  articles  based  upon  the  lecture 
for  insertion  in  the  Leisure  Hour.  These  began  to 
appear  in  November,  1902.  Since  their  publication  I 
have  been  urged,  in  requests  from  all  points  of  the  com- 
pass, to  collect  the  magazine  articles  and  publish  them 
in  a  separate  volume.  They  consisted  of  twelve  chap- 
ters dealing  with  the  real  life  story  of  Adam  Bede, 
Seth  Bede,  Mrs.  Poyser  and  Dinah  Morris.  To  the 
Leisure    Hour   articles    four   new   chapters    are    now 


xii  PREFACE 

added,  dealing  with  matters  relating  to  George  Eliot 
herself.  Notwithstanding  the  floods  of  luminous  bio- 
graphy on  the  life  of  this  great  woman  something 
further  needs  to  be  said. 

Especially  is  this  true  with  regard  to  her  marriage 
with  Mr.  George  H.  Lewes.  On  the  subject  of  this 
union  there  is  much  misunderstanding,  and  there  are 
many  exaggerated  judgments.  Admirers  of  her 
works  are  confronted  with  harsh  indictments  as  to 
the  errors  of  her  life.  They  are  even  adjured,  while 
enjoying  her  fiction,  to  bewail  her  dangerous  lapses 
from  ways  of  purity  and  righteousness.  While  profit- 
ing by  her  ethics  they  are  warned  to  loathe  her 
example.  All  this  is  entirely  due  to  her  alliance  with 
Mr.  Lewes.  Apart  from  this  union  George  Eliot's 
life  was  not  only  blameless  but  beneficent  in  a  high 
degree,  and  her  character  is  entirely  stainless.  A 
plain  statement  of  the  simple  facts  of  her  first  mar- 
riage is  now  fully  due.  With  my  strong  conviction 
of  her  position  as  a  great  ethical  and  spiritual  force  in 
the  world,  I  cannot  but  feel  how  desirable  it  is  that 
her  conduct  should  be  set  in  the  clearest  light  possible. 
Erom  George  Eliot's  own  moral  standpoint  her  life 
needs  no  vindication,  it  vindicates  itself.  On  the 
morality  of  George  Eliot's  union  with  Mr.  Lewes 
opinions  may  differ,  even  as  our  moral  standards  vary. 
On  every  conceivable  ground,  however,  it  is  better 
that  the  specific  facts  should  be  set  forth,  so  that  each 
reader  may  have  a  reliable  basis  whereon  to  ground 
his  judgment.  The  admirers  and  students  of  George 
Eliot  are  to  be  counted  by  the  million.  They  are 
in  all  the  walks  of  life  from  the  loftiest  to  the  lowliest. 
It  is  my  earnest  desire  that  the  materials  for  a  true 
verdict  should  be  placed  within  reach  of  all  those  who 


PREFACE  xiii 

may  wish  to  consider  them.  This  is  what  I  have 
attempted  to  do  in  Chapter  XV.,  and  I  hope  that 
neither  the  sacred  memory  of  George  Ehot  nor  the 
interests  of  her  readers  will  suffer  in  consequence.  I 
have  written  under  the  compelling  influence  of  duty, 
with  the  feeling  that  I  could  do  no  other. 

I  have  written  nothing  on  the  painful  episode  re- 
lating to  Arthur  Donnithorne  and  Hetty  Sorrel  be- 
cause, other  than  the  tragic  case  of  Mary  Voce,  so 
totally  dissimilar,  I  know  of  nothing  in  real  life  that 
corresponds  to  this  part  of  our  author's  fiction.  So  far 
as  I  know,  with  any  clear  perception,  this  portion  of 
Adam  Bede  is  a  creation  of  the  novelist  for  purposes 
of  literary  art,  and  is  probably  the  most  artificial  part 
of  her  story. 

The  pictures  in  this  volume  are  mostly  reproductions 
of  photographs  taken  by  my  sons,  a  few  are  from 
other  sources,  permission  having  been  sought  where 
copyright  was  concerned. 

Such  as  it  is,  my  reader,  this  book  awaits  your  kind 
and  indulgent  perusal.  It  claims  no  literary  preten- 
sions, and  is,  doubtless,  laden  with  many  imperfec- 
tions. It  comes,  however,  with  the  writer's  honest 
desire  to  interest  you  in  its  contents  and  to  communi- 
cate to  you  some  of  the  good  he  has  found  in  compiling 
the  volume. 

In  the  delivery  of  my  lecture,  as  well  as  in  the 
preparation  of  the  book  founded  upon  it,  the  contem- 
plation of  the  several  characters  in  their  own  native 
reality,  as  collated  w^ith  their  presentment  in  fiction,  has 
been  a  spiritual  blessing  marvellously  enriching  my  own 
itmer  life.  Especially  is  this  the  case  with  that  truly 
remarkable  woman — Dinah  Morris.  I  would  that  I 
could  impart  some  of  that  rich  blessing  to  all  these 


xiv  PREFACE 

who  do  me  the  honour  of  reading  what  I  have  written. 
Well  will  it  be  for  you,  dear  reader,  and  for  me,  if 
we  may  be  enabled  to  serve  our  generation  as  well  and 
faithfully  as  Adam  Bede  and  Mrs.  Poyser,  Seth  Bede 
and  Dinah  Morris — and  I  will  add  George  Eliot — 
served  theirs. 

William   Mottram. 


CONTENTS 


PAGE 

CHAPTER     I. — The  Evolution  of  George  Eliot  ...        3 

The  Name — George  Eliot  a  prodigy — Her  anrestrj- — Schooldays— Home 
Duties— Work  and  studies— Coventry  and  London. 

CHAPTER     II.— The  Home  of  the  Bedes  a  Hundred  Years 

Ago 13 

The  River  Dove— Norbury — The  church  and  churchyard— The  Maskerys— 
Bartle  Massey- Roston  Common — Thias  and  Lisbeth  Bede  and  Family — 
The  Sunday  at  Home— The  day-school— Village  life — Recollections. 

CHAPTER    III.— Adam  Bede  a  Fiction  Founded  on  Fact— 

The  Sources  from  which  the  Facts  were  Derived.         .       32 

Identification  of  the  originals— Geography  of  Adam  Ikde — Stoniton — 
Wearw  Hitils — Ashbourne  to  Wirksworth— The  dialect — Local  allusions — 
The  Germ  of  Adam  Bede. 

CHAPTER     IV. — The  Real  Life-Story  of  Adam  Bede         .       52 

Robert  E\ans,  the  prototype — EUastone,  the  Hayslope  of  the  novel  — 
Wootton  Hall— Colonel  Francis  Parker  Xevvdegate-  Adam  lode's 
marriage  at  EUastone— Kirk  Hallam — Arbury  Park — Griff  House- 
Stewardship -Adam  Bede's  letters — Reminiscence  from  Mr.  Isaac  Evans— 
An  Honest  Man. 

CHAPTER     v.— All  about  Mrs.  Poyser        .         .        .         .71 

Griff  House  Farm  and  Dairy— Mrs.  Poyser,  George  EHot's  mother— George 
Eliot,  a  Dairywoman— Her  accomplishments — Her  earnest  religious  life — 
Mrs.  Peyser's  discourse  to  Mr.  Donnithorne— Griff,  a  County  Council 
Dairy  School. 

CHAPTER     VI. — Haytime    at     the    Hall    Farm    and    the 

Harvest  Supper  ........       88 

George  Eliot's  passion  for  truthful  portrayals— George  Eliot  and  the  facts 
of  village  life — Her  sympathy — Haytime  a  Hundred  years  ago— Home- 
spun— Pewter  dinner  services — Machinery  in  the  Hayfields — Burdened 
Molly — Our  judgment  of  accidents  varied  by  the  consideration  as  to 
whether  they  happen  to  ourselves  or  to  other  people -The  Harvest  Supper — 
Rencontre  of  wits,  Mrs.  Poyser  versus  Bartle  Massey. 

XV 


xvi  CONTENTS 

PAGE 

CHAPTER     VII. — Setii  Bede's  Account  of  Himself     .         .10^ 

Rural  religion  at  the  close  of  the  Eighteenth  Century— Coming  of  tlie 
Methodists  to  Snelstone — Seth's  conversion — Joins  the  Methodists — Tragic 
death  of  his  rlass-leader — Seth  Bede  becomes  a  class-leader  and  local 
preacher — Differing  church  connections  of  members  of  the  same  Family- 
Delightful  labours — "Seth  Bede  bores  me." 

CHAPTER     VIII. — Dinah  Morris  Preaching  on  the    Green 
AT  Hayslope ^        ...         123 

Ellastone,  the  Hayslope  of  Adam  Bede — The  parish — Dinah  Morris  re- 
membered as  preaching  at  Ellastone — Did  George  Eliot  know  of  this? — 
Letter  of  George  Eliot  to  Seth  Bede  concerning  Dinali  Morris— Dinah 
Morris  at  Ashbourne— Donnithome  Arms  Inn— Mr.  Adam  Chadwick  of 
Matlock  and  Dmah  Morris — 'Ihe  picture  of  Dinah  preaching  on  Hayslope 
Green  in  Osborne  House. 

CHAPTER     IX. — The  Autobiography  of  Dinah  Morris        .     145 

"  Public  Ministry  of  various  Holy  Women"  by  Rev.  Z.  Taft— Rev.  J. 
Wesley  and  Female  Evangelism— The  Methodist  Conference  on  the 
Ministry  of  \Vomen--Mr.  Taft's  collection  of  examples — Dinah  Morris's 
reasons  for  her  autobiographical  sketch—Her  birth  at  Newbold — 
Marvellous  account  of  her  mother's  death —  '  Unaccountable  impressions"  — 
'Ihe  frail  motherless  child. 

CHAPTER  X. — Din.\h  Morris,  from  Babyhood  to  Womanhood     162 

The  loss  of  a  good  mother — Religious  influences  in  childhood— Dinah 
Morris  leaves  her  father's  house — Domestic  service  in  Derby — .\  lace 
mender  at  Nottingham — Searching  for  happiness — The  first  great  Methodist 
Secession,  I  vgy — Beck  Barn  and  Dinah  Morris — A  saint-life  begun— Jeanie 
Deans  and  Dinah  Morris. 

CHAPTER  XI.— DiNWii  Morris  :  Life  and  Work  in  Nottingham    179 

The  Rev.  Wm.  Bramwell  in  Nottingham— Dinah  Morris  joins  the  Church— 
Her  change  of  attire— Her  habits  of  secret  prayer— Entire  sanctification— 
Struggles  and  triumphs — 'I  he  scourge  of  typhus  fever  in  Nottingham — The 
Lent  Assizes,  1802  — Condemnation  of  Mary  Voce  for  murder — State  of  the 
laws — Dinah  Morris  in  the  convict's  cell — Triumph  on  the  scaffold — 
'■  Glory  to  God,  Glory  !  Glory  "  ! 

CHAPTER     XII.  — Din.\h    Morris,    the    Mission    Preacher, 

Wooed  and  Won  by  Seth  Bede 199 

The  liallad  on  the  case  of  Mary  Voce — Mission  work  in  Derby,  Tutbury, 
Burton-on-Trent,  and  other  places— Results  and  hindrances — Return  to 
Nottingham— At  .Ashbourne,  1802— Seth  Bede  hears  Dinah  preach  in 
Ashbourne— His  impression  en  the  preaching-Marriage  of  Seth  Bede  and 
Dinah  Morris — The  dual  account  ol  the  marriage. 

CHAPTER     XIII.— Hoi.Y  W\^rk  of  a  Wedded   Pair      .         .     218 

Discrepancy  between  fiction  and  fact  as  to  the  marriage  of  Dinah  Morris- 
Question  and  answer  in  the  Methodist  Conferf  nee  — "  Should  women  be 
permitted  to  preach  among  us"  ?— Dinah's  efforts  at  Snelstone,  Roston, 
Ellastone  and  other  places -.\  glad  revival -Removal  to  Derbv— Visits 
bv  Hugh  Bourne,  founder  of  the  Primitive  Methodist  Connexion — The 
Preacher's  plan  of  the  Derby  Circuit — Seth  Bede  an  inventor  and  part 
proprietor  of  a  factory  at  Wirksworth— Sunday  in  Seth  Bede's  Home— 
.'\bounding  labours. 


CONTENTS  xvii 

PAGE 

CHAP'l'EI^     XIV. — Life's    Labour    followed     by     Sabbatic 

Kest  and   Peace 241 

Incidents  in  the  life  of  Dinali  Morris — Dreams  and  visions — Preaching  at 
Ikixton  and  acute  rheumatism — George  Eliot  and  Dinah  Morris  in  Wirks- 
worth— Se[)aration  for  a  while  from  the  Wesleyan  Church — -The  Arminian 
Methodists — Dinah  Morris  and  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Fry — Lady  Lucy  Smith— 
The  death-bed  scene — Destruction  of  letters — Command  concerning 
monument — Visit  of  two  strangers  to  the  death-chamber — Dinah  Morris's 
imperishable  monument — What  was  it  made  her  the  woman  she  became  ? 

CHAPTER  XV. — The  Marriage  Union  of  George  H.  Lewes 

WITH  Mary  Ann  Kvans 262 

George  Eliot  a  great  teacher — Her  popularity — Theories  concerning  her 
life  and  teachings — Opinions  of  Professor  Francis  W.  Newman — The 
Christian  World — Truth — Lewes  and  his  former  marriage — How  it  was 
dissolved — Marriage  and  Divorce  Laws — Was  there  a  marriage  ceremony 
on  the  Continent  ? — Happy  results  of  the  union  for  a  quarter  of  a  century. 

CHAPTER     XVL— The  Religion  of  George  Eliot       .         .     283 

The  loss  of  faith — George  Eliot's  revolt— Sfraiici  Magazine,  1903 — 
Gentleman's  Magazine,  1887 — T.  P's.  Weekly —George  Eliot  a  religious 
soul— Spiritual  influences  of  George  Eliot's  childhood— Religious  influences 
of  Schools  and  Church  — George  Eliot  a  Calvinist — A  low  state  of  health, 
mental  depression — Mr.  Charles  Hennell's  Book— Causes  of  the  change — 
The  British  Weekly  on  George  Eliot's  knowledge  of  religious  experience  — 
Her  attitude  to  religious  faith — Quotation  from  the  late  Mr.  F.  W.  H. 
Myers — The  religious  message  conveyed  in  George  Eliot's  writings — 
Thomas  k  Kempis'  "Imitation  of  Christ" — Love  for  the  Scriptures — "  I  wish 
I  could  believe  as  you  believe  " — *'  Where  lies  the  difficulty  " — "  O  happy 
Zieten  "  ! 


LIST    OF   ILLUSTEATIONS 


Portrait  of    George    Eliot    (from    a 
painting  by  M.  D'Albert  Durade) 

George  Eliol's  Birthplace 
The  Dame's  School,  Griff    . 
George  Eliot's  Second  School      . 
Interior  of  George  Eliot's  School 
Copy  of  Entr>-  of  Marriage  of  Robert 
Evans  and  Harriet  I'oynton 

Entrance  to  Dovedale 
Norbury  Church 
Ancient  Manor  House,  Norbury 
Norbury  Church  :  Interior  . 
Birthplace  of  Robert  Evans 
Grave  of  George  and  Marj'  Evans 
The  Doveholes  in  Dovedale 
Tissington  Spires,  Dovedale 
Lion's  Head  Rock,  Dovedale 
A  Staffordshire  Stile     . 

Elizabethan    Grammar  School,   Ash 
bourne 

House  in  EUastone 

Wootton  Hall      . 

Wootton  Lodge   . 

West  Hallam  Hall,  Derbyshire 

Farmhouse,  Kirk  Hallam     . 

The  Tiny  Church  at  Kirk  Hallam 

Walk  Farmhouse 

Griff  House,  Griff 

Chilvers  Coton  Church,  Nuneaton 

Tomb  in  Chilvers  Coton  of  Christiana 
Evans   .... 


H 
17 
19 
21 

23 

26 

33 

37 
40 

43 

47 
53 
55 
57 
59 
61 

6? 
65 
73 
77 


Reverse     side     of     Tomb,     showing 

Memorial  of  Robert  Evans            .  81 

Premises  at  Griff  House,  used  by  Mrs. 

Evans  as  a  Dairy          ...  83 

Farm  Buildings,  Griff  House        .         .  86 

The  Sawmill  and  Builder's  Yard  at 

Norbury 91 

Gravestone  of  Samuel  Green        .        .  96 

School     adjoining     Bartle     Massey's 

House,  near  Norbury    .        .         .107 

Portrait  of  Robert  Evans    .        .        .  109 

Wesleyan  Cha[)el,  Roston  .        .         .  112 

Thorntree  Farm,  Snelbtone          .        .  115 

Farmhouse  at  Snelstone      .        .         .  117 

Page  from  Samuel  Evans'  Class  liook  119 

General  View  of  Ellastone          .         .  125 

Wesleyan  Chapel,  Ellastone       .        .  127 

The  Vicarage,  Ellastone      .        .         .  129 

Parish  Church  of  St.  Peter         .         .  131 

Chad  Cranage's  Forge         .        .         •  '35 

Weaver  Hills  (Binton  Hills)        .         .  137 

Bromley  Davenport  Arms   .         .         .  141 

Rev.  Zechariah  Taft  and  Mrs.  Taft     .  146 

Mrs.  Susannah  Wesley          .        .        .  149 

The  Round  House  at  Worthington     .  151 

Church  at  Worthington       .         .         -153 

Wesleyan  Chapel,  Griffy  Dam    .        .  156 

General  View  of  Griffy  Dam       .         .  159 

Bonnet  worn  by  Elizabeth  Evans        .  163 

Elizabeth  Evans  (.^unt  of  George  Eliot)  165 

Extract  from   a   letter  from   Robert 

Evans  to  Samuel  Evans        .        .167 


XIX 


XX 


LIST     OF     ILLUSTRATIONS 


Extract  from  a  letter  from  Elizabet 
Evans  to  one  of  her  daughters 

h 
•      173 

The  Rev.  William  Ikamwell       . 

.       180 

County  Hall  and  Assize  Courts,  Not 
tingham         .... 

•       183 

Grand  Jury  Room,  Nottingham 

.       186 

Crown  Court,  Nottingham 

.      :89 

Gallows  Hill,  Nottingham 

•      193 

Ham  Hall,  Ham,  Staffs. 

•      197 

St.  Mary's  Church.  Nottingham  . 

200 

Town  Gaol  in  Nottingham          , 

202 

Table  made  by  Samuel  Evans    , 

205 

Ham  Cross 

209 

Ham  Church  Rock,  Dovedale      . 

211 

Parish  Church,  Ashbourne  . 

214 

Old  Wesleyan  Chapel,  Ashbourne       . 

216 

Preachers*  Plan 

219 

Harlem  Tape  Works 

223 

House  of  Sanmel  and  Elizabeth  Evans 
Old  Wesleyan  Chapel,  Cromford 
Plan  of  Cromford  Wesleyan  Circuit 
The  Arkwright  Mills,  Cromford 
Bede  Memorial  Chapel,  Wirksworth 
Memorial  Tablet  to  Dinah  Morris 
Parish  Church.  Wirksworth 

House  of  Mr.  Samuel  Evans,  Junr. 

Arminian  Methodist  Preacher's  Plan 

Samuel  Green's  Timber  Yard 

George  Green,  of  Waterhouses    . 

Leigh  House,  Waterhouses 

Portrait  of  George  Henrj'  Lewes 

Portrait  of  George  Eliot      . 

Tomb  of  George  Eliot's  Brother 

Astley  Castle  and  Moat 


I'AGE. 
225 
227 
231 
235 
238 
24D 

243 

247 

257 
260 
263 
277 
287 
291 


OF  THE     "^  X 

l^N/VERSITY   I 

OF 


OF  THE    "^ 

DIVERSITY 

OF 


THE 
TRUE  STORY  OF  GEORGE  ELIOT 


CHAPTER    I 

THE  EVOLUTION  OF  GEORGE  ELIOT 

"Without    a    genius    learning    soars   in    vain; 
And  without  learning  genius  sinks  again  ; 
Their  force  united  crowns  the  sprightly  reign." 

Elphinston. 

Let  us  think  a  moment  about  the  name  George  EHot. 
As  we  write  them  there  is  music  in  the  words.  They 
bring  to  our  thought  a  series  of  vohimes  which  are 
crammed  full  of  wisdom,  richly  laden  with  philosophy, 
brimming  over  with  humour,  melting  in  tender  pathos, 
lighted  up  with  fine  characters,  bristling  with  dramatic 
incidents,  and  each  with  its  message  to  the  world. 
The  name  is  most  familiar.  It  has  come  to  be,  indeed, 
a  part  of  the  mental  farniture  of  mankind  and  stirs 
grateful  emotion  in  many  climes.  This  familiar  name 
has  a  touch  of  romance  in  it.  The  husband's  Christian 
name  was  George.  He  was,  to  her,  ever  the  most  de- 
lightful companion,  the  most  cherished  friend.  That 
was  enough.  The  devotion  of  the  lover  settled  the 
first  member  of  the  author's  nom  de  plume.  Caprice 
of  will  decided  the  other.     Thus  the  name  George  Eliot 

3 


4         THE   TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

is  merely  an  author's  chosen  alias,  and  nothing  more. 
Simple  as  it  is,  it  represents  an  amazing  reality,  and 
stands  for  a  world-wide  inheritance  of  intellectual 
power. 

George  Eliot  is  a  prodigy  ;  there  is  no  better  word 
for  it.  She  is,  indeed,  if  one  may  use  another  term, 
a  commanding  phenomenon,  as  well  as  a  prodigy. 
For,  consider  the  facts.  Philosophy,  literature,  criti- 
cism, have  been  far  enough  removed  from  any  of  her 
kith  and  kin,  heretofore.  Her  forbears  had  no  pre- 
tensions" to  science  or  art.  They  were  respectable 
country  folk,  and  nothing  more.  Their  education  was 
slight,  their  intellectual  equipment  meagre,  their 
literary  ambitions  nil.  Honest  and  self-respecting 
tradesmen  or  farmers,  or  both,  freeholders  of  their 
country,  above  want,  but  with  no  superfluity  of  money  ; 
they  were  contented  with  their  lot,  doing  their  daily 
duty  with  faithfulness,  making  no  figure  in  a  public 
way,  nor  desiring  to  do  so.  Such  was  the  family  from 
which  George  Eliot  sprang.  True,  her  father  was,  in 
his  way,  a  remarkable  man.  A  stalwart,  of  giant 
strength,  self-reliant,  energetic  and  practical.  Had  he 
continued  in  life  as  a  builder  he  would  have  distin- 
guished himself  in  that  capacity.  He  did  afterwards 
win  wide  distinctions  as  an  estate  agent  and  steward. 
But  of  literary  pretensions,  he  had  none.  I  have  seen 
letters  which  he  wrote  in  his  later  years  of  leisured  ease, 
and  I  am  sure  the  atrocious  spelling  would  have 
shocked  his  old  schoolmaster,  Bartle  Massey.  The 
home  of  the  author's  youth  was  a  fine  old  farm  house, 
a  scene  of  ceaseless  industry,  the  mother  just  as  busy 
indoors  as  the  father  in  his  office  and  on  his  farm. 
Two  admirable  characters  and  worthy  citizens  w^ere 
they,  but  neither  of  them  in  the  least  degree  likely  to 


THE   EVOLUTION   OF  GEORGE   ELIOT         5 

be  the  parent  of  this  exceptional  woman.  Miss 
Betham  Edwards,  who  knew  her  well,  writes  of  her 
as  "a  sovereign  nature  "  and  "  an  august  intellect." 
There  was  in  the  family  of  George  P^liot's  father  a 
dim  imcertain  tradition  of  a  superior  position  in  earlier 
generations.  How  often  did  I  hear  from  her  aunt, 
who  was  my  grandmother,  of  a  family  of  some  wealth. 


THE    DAME  S    SCHOOL,    GRIFF.      GEORGE    EI.IOT  S    FIRST    SCHOOL. 


bearing  the  Welsh  name  of  Evans,  who  formerly  re- 
sided in  the  county  of  Flint,  of  four  brothers,  members 
of  this  family,  who  lived  in  troublous  times,  left  their 
ancestral  home  and  somehow  came  to  be  tradesmen 
and  farmers  in  a  remote  part  of  Derbyshire.  There  is 
also  a  Xorthop  Hall,  in  Flintshire,  with  traditions  of 
such  a  family.  But  though  the  heads  of  this  house 
bore  the  honours  of  knighthood,  even  they  have  left 


6         THE    TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT 

us  no  memorials  in  literature,  science  or  art,  and  are 
all  but  forgotten  now.  Some  of  their  descendants 
have  become  wealthy  manufacturers  or  builders,  some 
of  them  have  been  bankers,  some  professional  men  or 
clergymen,  some  members  of  Parliament,  but  among 
them  all  there  is  only  one  who  has  manifested  the 
subtle  power  of  genius,  and  that  one  is  George  Ehot. 

"  Time,  place  and  action  may  with  pain  be  wrought, 
But  genius  must  be  born  and  never  can  be  taught." 

A  geyius  is  a  rare  thing,  and  appears  among  men 
according  to  no  known  law.  "  The  proportion  of 
genius  to  vulgar,"  says  Lavater,  "  is  like  one  to  a  mil- 
lion ;  but  genius  without  tyranny,  without  pretension, 
is  like  one  to  ten  millions."  This  rare  thing,  wher- 
ever it  is  given  is  of  greatest  price.  Saints  and 
geniuses  are  always  rare. 

"A  genius  can't  be  forced,  nor  can 
You  make  an  ape  an  alderman." 

In  this  respect,  as  in  others,  the  wind  bloweth  where 
it  listeth.  George  Eliot  was  undoubtedly  a  genius 
born.  She  stood,  with  a  few  others,  on  her  Olympian 
height  but,  in  very  deed,  almost  alone.  There  have 
not  been  many  Shakespeares,  not  many  Bacons,  not 
many  Miltons  or  Carlyles,  and,  in  truth,  there  is  but 
one  George  Eliot.  The  possession  of  rare  intellectual 
powers  was  early  discovered  in  the  child.  True,  it 
has  been  said  of  her  that  there  w^as  nothing  extraordin- 
ary about  her  in  her  first  school  days.  She  was  not  at 
that  time,  we  are  told,  an  infant  prodigy.  But  let  us 
ask  what  sort  of  a  school  was  the  first  that  was  open  to 
her?  It  w^as  a  poor  old-fashioned  dame  school,  in  a  low 
cottage  just  outside  Griff  gates,  and  at  five  years  of 
age  she  left  it  to  go  to  a  boarding  school.      Poor  little 


THE   EVOLUTION   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 


child  !      I  can  but  pity  her. 
in    the    cold   rooms.      How 
lar  experiences  at  school, 
century      there      was      a 
consideration       for       the 
children      in      schools, 
that     her     suffering     from 


She  recollected  shivering 

well  I  remember  simi- 
In  the  first  half  of  the  last 
sore      lack      of      humane 

physical  comfort  of 
George      Eliot      believed 

a     chill     atmosphere     at 


^^Bk  J 

Im 

Hi 

^^^^^^^b^^^^^^l 

GEORGE    ELIOT  S    SECOND    SCHOOL,    XUXEATOX. 

school  was  the  beginning  of  a  low  state  of  health  which 
haunted  her  through  life.  She  also  suffered  from  a 
keen  susceptibility  to  terror  at  night,  which  I  can  very 
well  believe,  because  I  had  to  suffer  in  the  same  way. 
The  dread  of  the  supernatural  was  always  with  us. 
Her  father  believed  in  apparitions,  she  tells  us.  Ghost 
stories,  mostly  founded  on  tragedies,  were  part  of  the 
common  dread  and  the  common  belief.       Many  a  chill 


8         THE   TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

winter  night  have  I  lain  in  the  darkness  with  terrors 
of  unreal  things  haunting  me,  because  of  recitals  I  had 
to  hear  at  our  own  fireside.  Everyone  who  came  as 
a  neighbour  seemed  to  have  his  own  ghost-story,  and 
some  of  those  I  used  to  hear  were  told  by  relations  of 
George  Eliot. 

Until  she  was  eight  or  nine  she  remained  at  the 
Attleboro  boarding  school,  not  always  getting  to  her 
much  loved  home,  even  for  the  week  ends.  Alas  for 
the  diffident,  shrinking  child  of  eight  or  nine,  under 
such  circumstances.  The  children  of  genius  do  not  al- 
ways have  an  easy  time  of  it  prior  to  their  development, 
and  so  it  was  with  George  Eliot.  As  early  as  this  the 
father  had  become  very  proud  of  the  astonishing  and 
growling  intelligence  of  his  young  daughter.  At  nine  she 
comes  under  a  teacher  at  Nuneaton,  whose  influence 
was  life-long.  This  was  Miss  Lewis,  who  was  a  tutor 
in  the  school  of  a  Miss  Wallington.  I  have  met  persons 
who  were  taught  along  with  George  Eliot  in  this 
academy.  Here  she  learned  with  the  greatest  facihty. 
The  imprig^sion  one  gathers  of  her  in  these  early  days, 
up  to  twelve  years  of  age,  is  that  of  an  old-fashioned 
child,  spoken  of  by  her  schoolmates  at  Attleboro,  who 
were  much  older  than  herself,  as  "the  little 
mother,"  and  regarded  by  the  whole  circle  at  home  as 
by  no  means  an  ordinary  girl.  At  the  age  of  twelve 
she  was  sent  to  a  boarding  school  in  Coventry.  Here 
she  came  in  contact  with  two  remarkable  women,  the 
Misses  Franklin,  the  daughters  of  a  Baptist  minister, 
who  kept  a  school  for  young  ladies.  The  fact  that  she 
was  sent  to  this  establishment  is  proof  to  me  that  in 
the  father's  thought  she  had  established  herself  as  one 
who  should  have  the  best  education  which  he  could 
supply.       Here,  as  is  proper  for  a  genius,  she  was  al- 


THE   EVOLUTION   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 


wa)^s  in  the  first  rank,  and  became  a  chief  favourite 
among  the  pupils.  Here  also,  her  school-fellows  al- 
ways felt  that  she  was  immeasurably  their  superior. 
She  was  the  show-girl  of  the  academy,  which,  with  her 
extreme  sensitiveness,  occasioned  her  a  good  deal  of 
mental  sufl'ering.  The  five  years  spent  in  the  school 
of  the  Misses  Franklin  were  happy,  formative  years, 


INTERIOR    OF    GEORGE     ELIOT  S    SCHOOL,    NUXEATOX. 

which  left  blessed  memories  on  the  heart  of  George 
Eliot,  and  came  to  be  reproduced  in  one  of  her  novels. 
School  finished,  her  self-education  began.  As  a  mat- 
ter of  course  she  had  now  to  take  her  place  as  a  daugh- 
ter in  the  home. 

There  is  every  evidence  that  she  accepted  her  new^ 
position  and  her  home  duties  with  submission  and 
alacrity.       She  took  her  share  of  the  farm-house  toil 


10        THE    TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

and  acquitted  herself  with  becoming  industry  and  de- 
votion. The  mother  was  one  of  the  best  of  housewives, 
but  by  this  time  her  health  had  become  extremely  feeble 
and  George  Eliot  had  to  take  no  slight  share  in  house- 
hold work.  The  mother  dies  when  her  youngest 
daughter  is  sixteen  years  old.  A  year  later  the 
next  elder  sister  marries,  and  she  has  full  charge  of 
the  establishment.  She  is  housekeeper  at  Griff  and 
dairywoman  as  well.  Here  was  sufficient  to  tax  the 
energies  of  any  person,  but  George  Eliot  found  time  for 
other  things.  All  the  while  she  was  rapidly  advancing 
her  own  education.  She  had  learned  professors  coming 
over  from  Coventry  w^eek  by  week ,  from  w^hom  she  took 
lessons  in  German,  Spanish,  Italian,  and  music.  She 
taught  herself  Greek,  made  some  incursions  into  He- 
brew, and  engaged  in  serious  studies  in  literature.  Her 
thirst  for  knowledge  was  insatiable  and  her  delight  in 
study  unbounded.  Then  followed  eight  years  of  resi- 
dence in  a  suburb  of  Coventry  as  house-keeper  to  her 
father.  Here,  as  never  before,  the  gates  of  knowledge 
opened  before  her.  She  found  new  intellectual 
companionships  and  advanced  into  the  wide  realms  of 
thought.  It  was  here  she  commenced  her  literary 
career.  At  the  beginning  of  this  period  she  was  twenty- 
one  years  old  and  at  its  close,  with  the  death  of  her 
father  in  1849,  she  w^as  a  woman  of  twenty-nine. 
After  a  brief  residence  abroad  we  find  her  settling  in 
London.  She  resided  with  the  family  of  Dr.  Chap- 
man in  the  Strand.  He  was  editor  in  chief  of  the 
Westminster  Review,  and  she  his  assistant  editor.  She 
has  now  entered  on  her  career  as  one  of  the  foremost 
literary  women  of  her  time.  We  next  turn  to  a  con- 
sideration of  the  real  life  story  of  some  of  her  characters 
in  the  family  novel  of  Adam  Bede. 


K 

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CHAPTEE  II 

THE  HOME  OF  THE  BEDES  A  HUNDRED  YEARS  AGO 

*'  O,  my  beloved  Nymph,   fair  Dove, 
Princess  of  rivers,   how   I   love 
Upon  thy  flowery  banks  to  lie, 
And  view  thy  silvery  stream, 
When  gilded  by  a  summer  beam. 
And  in  it  all  thy  wanton  joy. 
Playing  at  liberty." — Charles  Cotton. 

Not  more  than  three  miles  from  Buxton  there  stands 
a  rugged  mountain  height  called  Axe  Edge.  It  rises 
to  an  altitude  of  nearly  two  thousand  feet,  occupies  a 
portion  of  three  counties,  and  pours  out  from  its  flinty 
sides  four  pellucid  rivers.  One  of  these  is  the  winding, 
rapid  stream  on  whose  flowery  banks  Charles  Cotton 
loved  to  lie  in  the  summer  sunshine,  on  which  he  built 
his  picturesque  fishing  house  now  standing  at  Beresford 
Dale,  near  Hartington,  and  where  he  and  his  friend 
Izaak  Walton,  the  famous  classical  angler,  held  higfh 
converse  as  fishermen  more  than  two  hundred  years 
ago.  The  river  Dove  is  indeed  supremely  fair,  and  the 
scenery  on  its  banks  is  romantic  and  inspiring. 

Dovedale,  extending  for  three  miles  on  its  course  of 
forty-five  miles,  is  a  deep,  rocky,  limestone  gorge; 
through  which  the  Dove  swiftly  flows ,  falling  over  plea- 
sant cascades.  Issuing  from  the  confines  of  Dovedale, 
the  river  flows  through  rich  alluvial  pastures  and  by 
fruitful  dairy  farms.       Along  its  banks  the  trains  of 

13 


14       THE   TRUE   STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

the  Ashbourne  branch  of  the  North  Staffordshire  Rail- 
way smoothly  glide,  to  reach  the  Churnet  Valley  line 
at  Eocester  Junction.  The  second  station  en  route  is 
Norbury.  During  its  whole  course  the  Dove  divides 
the  two  counties  of  Derby  and  Stafford,  and  Norbury  is 
on  the  Derbyshire  side  of  the  stream. 


ENTRANCE  TO  DOVEDALE  (tHE  EAGLEDALE  OF  ADAM  BEDe) 
SHOWING  THORPE  CLOUD  ON  THE  RIGHT. 

The  parish  has  never  had  more  than  four  hundred 
inhabitants,  and  the  greater  portion  have  always  re- 
sided in  the  hamlet  of  Roston  and  in  the  straggling  dis- 
trict called  Eoston  Common.  Standing  on  a  low  ridge 
above  the  rail  and  the  river  is  the  parish  church,  con- 
cerning which  the  well-known  antiquary,  Mr.  J.  C. 
Cox,  says  :  "The  church  of  St.  Mary  is  of  peculiar  and 


THE   HOME    OF   THE    BEDES  15 

exceptional  interest.  It  consists  of  a  chancel,  nave, 
north  aisle,  and  tower  between  two  chapels  on  the 
south  side  of  the  nave.  The  chief  glory  of  this  church 
is  its  old  stained  and  painted  glass.  There  are  not 
six  parish  churches  in  England  that  have  so  extensive 
a  display."  Directly  in  front  of  the  church  are  the 
simple  memorials  in  stone  of  several  of  the  persons  who 
will  be  mentioned  in  this  history.  How  calm  and 
peaceful  is  the  scene — 

*'  But  let  me  lie  in  a  quiet  spot, 

With  the  green  turf  o'er  my  head, 
Far  from  the  city's  busy  hum, 
The  worldling's  heavy  tread." 

Close  by  the  churchyard  is  an  ancient  manor-house, 
formerly  the  residence  of  the  FitzHerberts  of  S winner- 
ton.  Our  concern  with  it  is  that  a  hundred  years  ago 
it  was  occupied  by  a  farmer  of  the  name  of  Maskery, 
and  you  will  find  that  name  given  in  Adam  Bede.  A 
rising  slope  leads  us  to  Roston  Common.  Bj^  the  way- 
side is  a  disused  schoolroom,  which  is  said  to  occupy 
the  site  of  a  former  school  wherein  Bartle  Ma&sey  was 
the  school-master  a  hundred  ^-ears  ago.  This  is  a 
name  familiar  to  the  reader  of  Adam  Bede.  Let  him 
not  imagine  that  it  is  a  name  of  mere  fiction.  The 
person  it  represents  was  real  enough  to  several  genera- 
tions'of  schoolboys  and  girls  in  the  parish  of  Norbury, 
several  of  whom,  to  my  knowledge,  retained  a  vivid 
recollection  of  the  tough  hazel  wielded  by  the  veritable 
Bartle  Massey. 

A  short  distance  in  the  same  direction  brings  us  to 
Boston  Common,  where  there  is  a  lonely  house, 
standing  on  the  left-hand  side  of  the  road,  di- 
vided now  into  two  comfortable  cottages.  At  the  time 
treated  of  in  Adam  Bede  these  formed  one  dwelling, 


16  THE  TRUE  STORY  OF  GEORGE  ELIOT 

which,  together  with  a  garden  and  orchard,  the  work- 
shop at  the  south  end  and  eight  acres  of  meadow  and 
pasture  land,  were  the  property  of  one  George  Evans, 
who  resided  there  with  his  wife  Mary  and  their  family 
of  five  sons  and  three  daughters.  One  might  wonder 
how  a  family  with  a  name  so  distinctively  Welsh 
should  in  those  days  be  found  in  this  remote  part  of 
Derbyshire.  It  has  been  discovered  by  one  Lieu- 
tenant-Colonel Evans,  a  member  of  the  Eoston  family, 
descended  from  the  brother  of  George  Evans,  that 
three  centuries  ago  there  was  a  "  Thomas  Evans  de 
Korthop,  in  the  County  of  Flint,  Argent  "  ;  and  that 
from  this  ancient  Welsh  knight  these  later  Evanses 
have  sprung.  The  Evanses  would  seem  to  have  dis- 
appeared from  Elintshire  in  the  first  half  of  the  seven- 
teenth century,  and  towards  its  close  the  name  occurs 
in  the  Norbury  register. 

In  the  seventeenth  century  great  national  commo- 
tions took  place.  There  was  the  Eevolution  under 
Charles  I.,  the  Commonwealth  under  Cromwell,  and 
the  Restoration  under  Charles  II.  It  is  manifest  that 
during  those  troublous  times  the  fortunes  of  the  Evans 
family  had  seriously  declined,  for  one  of  the  descen- 
dants of  the  Welsh  knight  of  Northop  appears  as  a 
humble  resident  of  Norbury,  with  a  significant  appel- 
lation attached  to  his  name  by  the  clergyman  who  kept 
the  parish  register.  Three  times  over  he  is  described 
as  "  Joseph  Evans,  a  traveller,"  and  the  word  travel- 
ler as  used  then  was  equivalent  to  our  use  of  the  w^ord 
tramp. 

Another  hundred  years  have  gone  their  round,  and 
we  come  upon  another  descendant  of  the  ancient 
knight  in  the  person  of  the  George  Evans  mentioned 
previously,  who  is  a  freeholder  of  the  county  of  Derby, 


z   4i 


THE    HOME    OF    THE     BEDES 


19 


and  an  honest  and  respectable  tradesman.  The  owner- 
ship of  the  small  estate  which  was  his  a  hundred  years 
ago,  has  descended  in  the  line  of  his  family,  an  es- 
teemed lady,  his  great-granddaughter,  being  the  pro- 
prietor now.  In  his  lifetime,  the  rural  home  was  a 
scene  of  busy,  strenuous  toil.  Although  lonely  and 
remote  there  were  situated  around  it,  at  varying  dis- 


,j^4 

— L^-MaH^SteiiL^B 

^^^^^^^. 

IE 

ANCIENT    MANOR    HOUSE,    NORBURY;    HOME    OF   THE    MASKERY    FAMILY. 


tances,  a  number  of  farm-houses  and  cottages,  and  it 
was  wdthin  reach  of  villages  and  hamlets,  where  the 
useful  handicraft  of  the  father  and  his  sons  was  in  con- 
stant requisition. 

George  Evans  was  the  carpenter  and  builder  for  the 


20  THE  TRUE  STORY  OF  GEORGE  ELIOT 

whole  locality.  His  "brow  was  wet  with  honest 
sweat,"  while  his  good  wife,  Mary,  was  a  woman  of 
household  thrift  and  motherly  activity.  Every  one 
of  the  five  sons  was  taught  his  father's  trade  after  pas- 
sing the  scant  curriculum  of  Bartle  Massey's  schocl. 
The  demands  of  labour  w^ere  constant  and  severe.  The 
eight  hours'  days  of  toil  was  not  even  dreamed  of  as 
yet.  In  the  summer  time  eighteen  hours  would  be 
nearer  the  mark.  There  was,  however,  one  blessed 
safeguard,  the  Sunday  was  in  reality  a  day  of  rest. 

In  these  restless  times  people  weary  themselves  on 
Sundays  in  pursuing  their  pleasures.  It  was  not  so 
then.  For  all  classes  of  toilers  the  Sunday  meant 
Sabbath  rest  in  reality.  In  the  forenoon  the  family 
of  George  Evans  invariably  went  to  church.  Then 
followed  at  mid-day  that  important  event,  the 
Sunday  dinner.  It  was  the  repast  of  the  week. 
The  father  always  laid  great  stress  on  the  Sunday 
dinner.  This  cheerful  function  ended,  the  whole 
of  the  Sunday  afternoon  was  spent  in  a  family 
Sunday  school,  long  before  Sunday  schools  had 
been  instituted  in  that  neighbourhood.  The  boys  and 
girls,  instructed  by  the  father,  practised  reading  and 
writing,  spelling  and  ciphering,  and  they  were  cate- 
chised on  their  school  work,  and  encouraged  in  the  way 
of  siiTiple  elementary  learning,  and  so  the  Sabbath  wore 
on  and  was  really  a  dehght  to  all  the  family. 

"  We  thank  Thee,  Lord,  for  one  day 

To  look  Heaven  in  the  face; 
The  poor  have  only   Sunday ;  " 

The  sweeter  is  the  grace. 
'Tis  then  they  make  the  music 

That  sings  their  week  away ; 
O,  there's  a  sweetness  infinite 

In  the  workman's  Sabbath  day." 


NORBURY    CHURCH  :    IXTERIOR. 


\.  OF  f,     ^/^ 

CALiFO^ 


THE   HOME    OF    THE    BEDES 


23 


Hard  toil  on  week-days,  sweet  rest  on  Sundays,  a 
family  life  wholesome,  if  not  refined,  a  home  where  the 
parents  exhibited  to  their  children  an  example  of 
reverence,  integrity,  uprightness  and  industry,  and 
where  the  children  grew  up  healthy,  self-respecting, 
honest  and  virtuous,  worthy  citizens,  honourable  men 


BIRTHPLACE    OF    ROBERT    EVANS    (ADAM    BEUE.) 
"  .     .     .     .he  entered  the  house  and  glanced  into  tlie  room  on  the  left-hand 
which  was  used  as  a  workshop."     Adam  Bede,  Chap.  iv. 

and  women.  Such  was  the  family  of  George  and 
Mary  Evans,  and  it  is  family  life  like  this  which  con- 
stitutes the  stamina  and  builds  up  the  strength  of  a 
puissant  and  progressive  nation. 

In  turn,  every  one  of  the  boys  was  taken  from  school 
at  a  too  early  age,  to  be  inducted  into  the  mysteries  of 
the  father's  handicraft.       There  was  no  scruple  then 


24       THE    TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT 

in  putting  lads  to  work  in  their  tender  years.  It  had 
always  been  so.  There  were  no  Elementary  Educa- 
tion Acts  to  restrain  the  father's  liberty  for  the  child- 
ren's good  ;  no  set  number  of  standards  in  the  three 
K's  to  be  got  over,  and  no  fixed  age  to  be  attained  be- 
fore a  boy  could  be  employed  in  labour,  as  is  the  case 
now.  There  were,  however,  plenty  of  fresh  air,  an 
abundance  of  homely,  substantial  food,  and  the  care 
and  love  of  devoted  parents. 

Less  than  half  a  mile  away  was  the  school  of  Bartle 
Massey.  One  of  the  earliest  names  I  remember  to 
have  heard  outside  the  circle  of  our  own  family  names, 
is  that  of  Bartle  Massey.  Yet  how  far  the  picture  of 
the  quaint  old  man  drawn  for  us  in  Adam  Bede  is  true 
to  life,  or  how^  far  it  is  meant  to  be  so,  I  cannot  say. 
The  recollections  I  have  of  the  statements  made  to  me 
concerning  him  are  that  he  w^as  universally  regarded 
as  a  clever  schoolmaster,  that  he  had  a  great  reputa- 
tion for  bringing  his  pupils  forward  quickly,  that  he 
exercised  a  severe  discipline ,  had  an  erratic  temper  and 
cherished  an  impatient  contempt  for  dull  scholars,  w^ho 
generall}^  had  a  poor  time  with  him.  Some  of  his 
pupils  had  to  walk  many  miles  each  day  to  attend  his 
school,  because  schools  were  scarce  and  his  was  popu- 
lar ;  his  school  fees  w^ere  sixpence  per  week  for  the  tui- 
tion of  each  child,  and  he  usually  collected  his  fees  by 
sending  in  his  bill  at  Christmas,  except  in  the  case  cf 
a  few  scholars  who  paid  their  fees  weekly. 

The  reputation  of  the  schoolmaster  extended  far  and 
near.  The  curriculum,  though  limited,  w^as  of  practi- 
cal value.  Strict  attention  was  paid  to  reading  and 
spelling.  The  reading  lessons  consisted  of  such  as 
were  contained  in  various  educational  compilations  cf 
which  that  very  useful,  but  now  obsolete,  school-book 


THE    HOME    OF    THE    BEDES  £5 

Mavor's  Beading  and  Spelling  Book  may  be  taken  as 
an  example,  supplemented  by  that  "well  of  English 
undefiled,"  the  Authorised  Version  of  the  Old  and 
Kew  Testaments.  Spelling  \Yas  inculcated  by  the  com- 
mittal to  memory  of  long  columns  of  words  arranged 
according  to  the  number  of  their  syllables,  without  any 
hint,  in  most  cases,  as  to  what  might  be  their  meaning. 
Pupils  in  writing  had  copies  set  them  by  the  master, 
or,  as  they  advanced  in  the  art,  copies  were  handed  to 
them  for  imitation,  done  in  copper-plate.  Arithmetic 
was  taught  after  the  manner  of  Walkinghame's  Tutor's 
Assistant,  and  included  not  only  the  common  elemen- 
tary rules,  but  vulgar  and  decimal  fractions,  square 
and  cube  root,  duodecimals,  mensuration  of  superfices, 
and  book-keeping.  There  were  only  the  very  feeblest  at- 
tempts at  teaching  grammar,  geography,  or  history.  I 
believe  it  is  quite  true  that  Bartle  Massey  did  try  to  in- 
duce his  pupils  to  carry  on  their  studies  by  means  of  an 
evening  school,  and  it  is  probable  that  his  complainings 
that  so  few  of  his  old  scholars  availed  themselves  of 
the  advantages  he  offered  them  are  genuine  enough. 

Books  were  few,  periodicals  unknown,  and  news- 
papers very  scanty.  In  Chapter  XIX.  of  Adam  Bede 
there  is  an  inventory  of  the  books  the  hero  of  the  story 
had  read  over  and  above  the  volumes  used  in  his  scant 
education.  Brief  as  is  the  list,  I  know  well  that  it 
would  far  exceed  the  reading  of  the  great  bulk  of  Adam 
Bede's  compeers.  Here  it  is  :  "  The  Bible,  includ- 
ing the  apocryphal  books.;  Poor  Bichard's  Almanack; 
Taylor's  Holy  Livirig  and  Dijing ;  The  Pilgrim's  Pro- 
gress with  Bunyan's  Life  and  Hohj  War ;  a  great  deal 
of  Bailey's  Dictionary ;  Valentine  and  Orson,  and  part 
of  a  History  of  Bahijlon,  which  Bartle  Massey  had  lent 
him." 


26 


THE    TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT 


Markets  and  fairs,  club-feasts  and  parish  wakes, 
Christmas  time,  Easter  and  Whitsuntide  varied  the 
monotony  of  village  life. 


GRAVE    OF    GEORGE    AND    MARY    EVANS    (THIAS    AND    EISBETH    BEDE). 

Ashbourne  was  the  market  town,  while  Uttoxeter, 
Derby,  Cheadle  and  Leek  were  not  far  oft'.  My  own 
native   home   lay   just   across   the   Weaver   Hills,   at 


THE   HOME    OF   THE   BEDES  27 

Waterhouses  in  the  parish  of  Waterfall,  where  I  was 
born  in  1836. 

On  my  mother  and  grandmother's  side  I  am  a  direct 
descendant  of  George  and  Mary  Evans,  and  it  is  among 
the  Evans'  household  we  must  look  for  several  of  the 
characters  mentioned  in  George  Eliot's  story  of  Adam 
Bede.  Thus  George  and  Mary  Evans  may  be  taken 
as  typical  of  "  Thias  "  and  "  Lisbeth  Bede  "  ;  Eobert 
Evans  is  undoubtedly  the  original  who  suggested  Adam 
Bede.  Samuel  Evans,  the  youngest  son,  was  cer- 
tainly the  prototype  of  Seth  Bede.  George  Eliot 
(Mary  Ann  Evans)  was  the  daughter  of  Adam  Bede 
and  the  granddaughter  of  Thias  and  Lisbeth.  It  will 
thus  occur  to  the  reader  that  in  portraying  Adam  Bede 
our  author  w^as  thinking  of  her  own  father,  and  had 
the  very  best  reasons  for  the  statement  concerning  her 
hero,  that  he  had  a  dash  of  Celtic  blood  in  his  veins. 
This  statement  was  literally  true.  My  relation  to  the 
Evans  family  arises  from  my  descent  from  Ann  Evans, 
the  daughter  of  Thias  and  Lisbeth,  the  sister  of  Adam 
and  Seth — my  dearly-beloved  grandmother.  Thus, 
it  will  be  seen,  I  write  of  things  I  have  known  from 
infancy.  The  most  sacred  associations  cluster  around 
the  story  I  am  about  to  tell,  and  the  obligation  to  tell 
it  comes  to  me  bound  up  with  the  tenderest  family 
ties — 

"  There  was   a  time  when   I   was  very   small, 
When  my  whole  frame  was  but  an  ell  in  height. 
Sweetly,   as  I  recall  it,  tears  will  fall, 
And  therefore  I  recall  it  with  delight." 

In  those  days,  so  long  gone  by,  I  drank  in  memories 
of  Adam  and  Seth  Bede  and  Dinah  Morris  w4th  an 
avidity  I  can  never  forget.  Adam  Bede  and  Dinah 
Morris  died  when  I  was  thirteen  years  of  age,  and  Seth 


28        THE    TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT 

Bede  died  nine  years  later.  Of  course,  the  main  facts 
on  which  the  story  was  based  were  known  to  me  long 
before  the  book  had  ever  been  thouirht  of,  even  by 
its  author,  for  they  were  common  family  property.  My 
mother  and  grandmother  never  wearied  of  telling  me 
those  facts,  and  it  is  on  them  the  story  is  avowedly 
founded. 

My  ears  never  wearied  of  my  mother's  recitals  con- 
cerning her  two  choice  family  saints — Seth  Bede  and 
Dinah  Morris.  Concerning  the  first  of  these  I  was 
told  of  his  conversion  to  God  as  a  very  young  man,  his 
union  with  the  Methodists,  his  patience  and  persever- 
ance in  spite  of  the  jeers  of  companions  in  toil  and 
the  scornful  raillery  of  brothers  at  home.  I  had  also 
been  told  of  his  pathetic  prayers  by  his  mother's  death- 
bed, of  his  long  and  faithful  labours  as  a  devoted  class- 
leader  and  local  preacher,  and  his  marked  usefulness  as 
a  visitor  to  the  sick  and  dying.  And  how  can  I  ever 
tell  of  the  many  unparalleled  virtues  attributed  to 
Dinah  Morris,  of  her  heroic  efforts  to  do  good,  her  con- 
stant visitations  of  the  afflicted,  her  preachings  indoors 
and  out  for  many  years,  and  of  a  chain  of  events  asso- 
ciated with  her  simple  faith  and  consecrated  zeal  which 
were  reported  to  me  as  nothing  less  than  truly  miracu- 
lous? 

The  early  Methodists  were  firm  believers  in  the 
miraculous,  even  as  their  great  founder  John  Wesley 
himself  was.  To  my  young  imagination  Dinah  Morris 
appeared  to  have  moved  in  an  atmosphere  of  super- 
natural influences  during  the  greater  portion  of  her  life. 
All  this  was  related  to  me  as  being  associated  with  a 
character  of  singular  sweetness,  unaffected  piety,  rapt 
adoration  and  exceptional  power  in  prayer.  There 
were  neither  fanaticism,  Pharisaism,  nor  selfishness  in 


THE   HOME    OF   THE   BEDES  29 

Dinah  as  she  was  presented  to  my  young  heart,  which 
drank  in  these  recitals  with  silent  wonder  and  stored 
them  away  in  the  chambers  of  memory;  and  so,  from 
very  early  years  Dinah  Morris  came  into  my  life  as  a 
familiar  acquaintance,  dear  to  my  mother  by  close  per- 
sonal acquaintance  and  devoted  family  affection,  and 
consequently  dear  to  me. 

In  1849  her  death  transfigured  her  for  us  all,  and  was 
the  theme  of  much  conversation  in  our  home.  This 
event  occurred  in  Stony  shire,  and  it  was  all  so  serene 
and  heavenly.  Everything  about  her  had  a  warm 
glow  of  supernatural  interest.  She  was  my  mother's 
revered  family  saint,  a  woman  of  transcendent  spiri- 
tuality, a  character  almost  ethereal;  one  who  had  in 
very  deed  walked  with  God,  and  was  not  because  God 
had  taken  her.  Then  she  lingered  with  us  in  a  mystic 
aureola  of  heavenly  glory,  far  off  from  us  now  in  the 
world  unseen.  But  lo,  eleven  years  after  her  decease 
she  truly  rose  from  the  dead.  In  that  time  her  own 
beloved  niece  and  my  mother's  first  cousin  had  most 
strangely  developed  from  the  clinging  girl  whom  Dinah 
]^Iorris  had  know^n  and  loved  in  her  youth,  and 
early  womanhood,  into  an  author  of  lofty  genius.  '  It 
was  this  gifted  niece  who  revealed  the  saintly  aunt  to 
a  wondering  world,  transfigured  indeed,  and  clothed 
in  white  robes  of  angelic  beauty. 

In  the  story  of  Adam  Bede,  Dinah  Morris  became  my 
idealistic  companion  for  many  a  year.  Various  little 
commissions  I  had  to  execute  for  my  aged  mother  con- 
cerning Dinah's  children  and  other  relations,  and  after 
her  death,  in  1887,  Dinah  came,  by  the  force  of  circum- 
stances, into  closer  relations  with  me.  In  that  year, 
on  the  sudden  decease  of  the  Rev.  G.  M.  Murphy,  I 
was  unexpectedly  called  upon  to  leave  my  happy  work 


30       THE   TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

in  Bristol  to  take  charge  of  the  church  of  which  Mr. 
Murphy  had  been  pastor,  and  of  the  great  mission 
which  he  had  created  at  Lambeth  Baths.  Here  I 
w^as  constantly  appalled  by  the  slow  starvation  I  saw 
going  on  around  me,  especially  in  times  of  general  dis- 
tress. All  my  public  funds  and  private  cash  had  gone 
to  purchase  supplies  for  these  famishing  people.  Then 
I  thought  of  Dinah  Morris,  and  she  became  the  princi- 
pal theme  of  a  lecture  given  to  raise  funds  for  the  poor. 
Hundreds  of  pounds  came  to  me,  romances  of  charity 
happened,  and  many  troubled  souls  were  made  to  sing 
for  joy. 

In  process  of  time  failure  of  physical  strength 
and  nervous  energy  forced  me  out  from  this  distress- 
ful but  most  blessed  w^ork  in  London,  w^hen  I  was 
called  to  a  wider  service,  in  which  my  health  has 
been  completely  restored,  in  a  sphere  w^hich  gives  me 
frequent  change  of  air  and  calls  me  to  travel  over  Eng- 
land and  Wales  as  lecturer,  preacher  and  missioner. 
Again  and  again  have  I  been  asked  to  give  my  lecture 
entitled  "An  Evening  with  Adam  Bede."  In  that 
lecture,  as  in  the  fiction,  Dinah  is  the  central  figure, 
not  merely  the  Dinah  as  painted  by  George  Eliot,  but 
the  real  woman  herself  as  I  have  come  to  know  her, 
and  she  has  truly  dwelt  with  me,  a  perpetual  charm 
and  an  abiding  inspiration. 

There  is  nothing  in  this  w^orld  so  supremely  attrac- 
tive as  holiness.  Let  it  but  be  presented  in  association 
with  Christ-like  sympathy  and  practical  beneficence, 
and  arrayed  in  such  dress  holiness  commands  the  world. 
In  these  pages  it  will  be  my  valued  privilege  to  pre- 
sent the  real  Dinah  Morris  to  my  readers  after  this 
fashion,  which  was  in  fact,  her  own  true  life.  In 
them  I  may  have  something  to  say  concerning  Thias  and 


THE   HOME    OF   THE    BEDES  31 

Lisbeth,  Adam  and  Seth  Bede.  I  may  be  able  to  re- 
late something  of  interest  also  about  Mrs.  Poyser,  but 
the  principal  charm  in  my  story  must  centre  in  the 
strange  experiences  and  remarkable  incidents  of  the 
life  of  Dinah  Morris. 


CHAPTEB    JIT 

ADAM  BEDE  A  FICTION  FOUNDED  ON  FACT — THE 
SOURCES   FROM    WHICH   THE   FACTS    WERE   DERIVED 

''Long,  long  be  my  heart  with  such  memories  filled! 
Like  the  vase  in  which  roses  have  once  been  distilled : 
You  may  break,  you  may  shatter  the  vase  if  you  will, 
But  the  scent  of  the  roses  will  hang  round  it  still." 

Moore. 

In  the  preceding  chapter  I  have  named  the  family  from 
whose  living  circle  several  of  the  prominent  characters 
in  Adam  Becle  were  taken  by  its  author.  I  have  also 
indicated  the  part  of  the  country  where  they  spent  their 
life — as  to  the  parents,  to  life's  close,  and  as  to  the 
sons  till  they  were  full  grown  men.  I  propose  now  to 
show  how  the  story  of  Adam  Bede  adapts  itself  to  the 
geography  of  this  locality,  how  it  agrees  also  w^ith 
its  dialect  and  fits  in  with  the  social  conditions  there  at 
the  close  of  the  eighteenth  and  the  beginning  of  the 
nineteenth  centuries,  which  are  the  times  dealt  with 
in  the  story  of  Adam.  Bede.  I  will,  however,  first  fore- 
warn the  reader  that  he  must  not  expect  to  find  in  this 
work  of  fiction  exact  biography,  correct  history,  accu- 
rate geography,  or  even  full  dialect.  These  things  are 
not  promised  to  us,  and  we  have  no  right  to  expect 
them,  since  it  was  no  part  of  the  author's  purpose  to 
furnish  them.     Her  aim  w^as  entirely  different.   There- 

32 


/  ^     OF  THE  >. 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


califopi^' 


ADAM  BEDE  FOUNDED  ON  FACT     35 

fore,  in  judging  of  her  work,  it  is  important  to  bear  in 
mind  the  old  maxim — 

"  In  every  work  regard  the  author's  end. 
Since  none  can  compass  more  than  they  intend." 

Many  of  George  E Hot's  statements  in  fiction  have 
been  seized  upon  by  a  certain  class  of  writers  and  as- 
serted as  facts  of  real  life,  when,  in  reality,  they  were 
nothing  of  the  kind.  Thus,  with  the  best  intentions, 
fact  and  fiction  have  been  so  blended  as  to  produce  mis- 
leading and  erroneous  impressions.  When  reading  a 
work  of  fiction  we  have,  perhaps,  no  inherent  right  to 
inquire  concerning  the  originals  whom  the  author  had 
in  mind  when  constructing  his  plot  and  working  out 
his  details.  Why  not  take  the  book  as  you  find  it,  a  work 
of  literary  craftsmanship,  and  so  enjoy  it  and  accept  its 
lessons  without  troubling  yourself  as  to  the  author's 
originals?  That  is  his  secret — not  yours.  This,  I 
am  sure,  would  be  the  feeling  of  many  writers  of  fic- 
tion, and  among  them  George  Eliot.  Indeed,  it  is  not 
difiicult  to  discover  a  tinge  of  irritation  in  respect  of 
the  earlier  attempts  to  identify  her  characters.  And 
yet,  in  spite  of  ourselves,  the  question  will  force  it- 
self upon  us  while  reading  fiction  : — How  much  of  this 
is  real?  and  how  much  is  the  product  of  pure  imagina- 
tion? In  the  case  of  Adam  Bede,  there  were  weighty 
reasons  why  its  author  should  deprecate  attempts  at 
identification.  Among  others,  there  was  this  :  that 
similar  attempts  with  regard  to  Scenes  from  Clerical 
Life  had  occasioned  considerable  annoyance.  There 
were  other  reasons  it  is  not  necessary  to  name.  There 
is,  however,  no  need  of  reticence  now,  and  in  the  course 
of  years  the  authoress  herself  allowed  several  acknow^- 
ledgments  to  be  wrung  from  her  which  help  us  to  a 
just  conclusion. 


i 


36         THE  TRUE  STORY  OF  GEORGE  ELIOT 

The  Geography,  the  characters  and  dialect  of  Adam 
Bede  are  in  the  main  taken  from  Derbyshire  and  Staf- 
fordshire, but  for  all  that  Warwickshire  has  in  all  these 
respects  crept  into  the  story,  as  might  have  been  antici- 
pated. It  should  be  remembered  in  passing,  that  in 
writing  her  novel  George  Eliot  did  not  consider  her- 
self bound  to  exact  description.  When  Holman  Hunt 
had  conceived  the  idea  of  his  great  painting,  the 
Shadow  of  Death,  he  is  said  to  have  resided  in  Nazar- 
eth for  four  years,  at  great  sacrifice  to  himself,  in  order 
that  all  the  settings  of  his  picture  might  be  accurate  in 
detail  and  true  to  locality.  Even  our  author,  w^hen 
preparing  to  WTite  her  historical  novel,  Romola,  por- 
traying the  country  and  the  times  of  the  great  monk 
Savonarola,  found  it  necessary  to  reside  for  a  while  in 
Florence  and  to  make  large  use,  at  great  cost  to  her- 
self in  time  and  labour,  as  w^ell  as  money,  of  its  archi- 
tecture, its  paintings,  its  libraries  and  antiquities,  to 
enable  her  accurately  to  construct  her  entrancing  story. 
Even  then  her  success  was  not  so  complete  as  her  critics 
could  have  desired. 

In  writing  Adam  Bede  the  case  was  different.  All 
the  materials  came  from  sources  much  nearer  home. 
Her  father's  oft-repeated  tale  of  his  early  life,  together 
with  the  absorbing  and  captivating  recitals  of  a  beloved 
aunt ,  formed  the  ground-work  of  the  book ;  while  such 
geographical  description  as  was  required  was  already 
familiar  to  her  eye  by  several  visits  to  the  undoubted 
scene  of  the  story.  These  visits  commenced  when  the 
author  was  only  seven  years  of  age ,  and  they  continued 
till  she  was  a  full-grown  woman. 

In  Adam  Bede  we  have  frequent  mention  of  the 
county  town  of  Stoniton.  The  book  itself  supplies  the 
evidence  as  to  what  county  town  is  meant  by  this  refer- 


TISSIXGTON    SPIRES.    DOVEDAI.E     (eAGLEDALE.) 


r:p:iwY~^ 


/  V^  OF  -T"! 


ut*\\^ 


RS\-r^ 


of 


CAL^fO^ 


ADAM  BEDE  FOUNDED  ON  FACT      39 

ence.  In  Chapter  XXII.  we  have  related  to  us  the 
gathering  of  the  birthday  party  to  celebrate  the  com- 
ing of  age  of  Arthur  Donnithorne,  the  young  squire, 
and  Martin  Poyser,  the  senior,  is  made  to  say — "  I 
remember  Jacob  Taft  walking  fifty  miles  after  the 
Scotch  raybels,  when  they  turned  back  from  Stoniton." 
One  need  hardly  remark  that  the  rebellion  here  alluded 
to  is  none  other  than  that  of  1745,  led  by  the  Young 
Pretender ;  or  that  it  w^as  from  the  town  of  Derby  that 
the  "raybels"  began  their  inglorious  retreat.  Stoniton 
is  thus  identified  to  a  certainty. 

There  is  another  veiled  reference  to  Derby.  In  Chap- 
ter XLIII.  we  read  :  "  The  place  fitted  up  that  day  as 
a  court  of  justice  was  a  grand  old  hall  now  destroyed  by 
fire."  It  suffices  to  say  that  the  town  hall  of  Derby 
was  so  destroyed  in  1841.  Nottingham  was  the  place 
where  the  prototype  of  Hetty  Sorrel  was  tried  and  con- 
demned.      Our  author  fixes  the  venue  in  Derby. 

We  have  another  sign  of  locality  in  the  questions  and 
answers  which  passed  between  Adam  and  Hetty,  con- 
cerning Eagledale,  Chapter  XX.  Hetty  is  longing  to 
know  more  about  the  place  whither  her  secret  lover, 
Arthur  Donnithorne,  has  gone  fishing.  "Have  j^ou 
ever  been  to  Eagledale?"  she  asks.  "Yes,"  replies 
Adam,  "  ten  years  ago,  w4ien  I  was  a  lad.  It's  a  won- 
derful sight,  rocks  and  caves  such  as  you  never  saw  in 
your  life.  I  never  had  a  right  notion  o'  rocks  till  I 
went  there.  There's  nothing  but  a  bit  of  a  inn  where 
he's  gone  to  fish."  To  anyone  knowing  these  parts 
there  could  be  no  manner  of  doubt  that  this  description 
relates  to  Dovedale  and  to  the  Izaak  Walton  Hotel, 
which  stands  on  an  elevation  near  the  Ham  end  of  the 
dale.  The  inn  of  Adam  Bede's  time  was  simply  a 
farm-house  with  a  licence  attached  to  it ;  it  has  now 


40 


THE  TRUE  STORY  OF  GEORGE  ELIOT 


swollen  into  a  comfortable  hotel,  dear  to  the  hearts  of 
anglers. 


lion's  head  rock,  dovedale  (eagledale). 

Another  distinctive  geographical  feature  is  the  Bin- 
ton  Hills,  described  in  Chapter  II.  :  "  High  up  against 
the  horizon  were  the  huge,  conical  masses  of  hill, 


I 


ADAM  BEDE  FOUNDED  ON  FACT      41 

like  giant  mounds,  intended  to  fortify  this  region  of 
corn  and  grass  against  the  keen  and  hungry  winds  of 
the  north."  Here  is  an  apt  description  of  the  Weaver 
Hills,  occupying  the  northern  side  of  the  parish  of  Ella- 
stone.      Another  may  be  quoted  from  a  minor  poet — 

"  See  how  majestic  Weaver's  brow 
Swells  from  each  broken  scene  below, 
O'er  the  wide  vales  he  bends  sublime, 
And  triumphs  in  his  polar  clime." 

The  Eoyal  Engineers  in  making  the  Ordnance  Sur- 
veys have  found  Weaver  an  'admirable  Station,  one 
thousand  two  hundred  feet  high,  and  commanding  a 
magnificent  prospect  on  every  side.  It  was  on  the 
highest  mound  of  Weaver  that  Mr.  A.  L.  W^agge  be- 
gan those  meteorological  observations  which  he  has 
continued  at  the  charges  of  the  Government  on  the  top 
of  Ben  Nevis.  Weaver  is  an  imposing  feature  of  the 
district,  conspicuous  for  many  miles  around. 

In  Ada'tn  Bede  we  have  mention  made  of  Oakbourne 
and  the  Buxton  coach.  Take  out  the  prefix  "  Oak  " 
and  substitute  "  Ash,"  and  you  have  the  name  of  the 
town  of  Ashbourne,  well  known  to  Adam  Bede  as  well 
as  to  George  Eliot.  The  coaches  between  the  two 
towns  would  be  a  reality  in  the  days  when  the  daugrh- 
ter  was  driven  over  the  district  by  her  father  in  his  gig, 
and,  doubtless,  she  saw  them  wdth  her  own  eyes.  The 
agreement  of  geographical  names  is  at  least  suggestive, 
as  between  Norbury  and  Norburne,  Ellastone  and 
Treddlestone,  Eocester  and  Bosseter,  Ashbourne  and 
Oakbourne,  Warslow  and  Warson,  Boston  and  Brox- 
ton.  Here  is,  at  least,  a  marked  coincidence  of  sound, 
while  it  must  be  acknowledged  that  in  other  things  the 
likeness  does  not  hold  good. 


42      THE    TRUE    STORY    OF    GEORGE    ELIOT 

We  have  frequent  contrasts  in  Adam  Bede  of  two 
tracts  of  country  which  are  contiguous  to  each  other. 
We  read  of  "  that  grim  outskirt  of  Stonyshire,"  where- 
with Dinah  Morris  stands  associated  ;  "  a  bleak  treeless 
region,  intersected  by  lines  of  cold,  grey  stone."  This 
is  contrasted  wdth  "  that  rich  undulating  district  cf 
Loamshire,"  where  Mrs.  Poyser  had  her  home.  Mrs. 
Poyser,  speaking  of  this  grim  outskirt,  suggests  that 
the  inhabitants  thereof  "  live  on  the  naked  hills  like 
poultry  a-scratching  on  a  gravel  bank."  All  this  has 
its  counterpart  in  the  country  where  Adam  Bede  spent 
his  early  life,  and  over  which  he  drove  his  wonderful 
daughter  more  than  once.  The  high  bleak  country 
may  be  said  to  lie  betw^een  Ashbourne  and  Wirksvvorth, 
and  its  tapering  peaks  are  plainly  visible  from  the  top 
of  Weaver,  or  from  the  gentle  height  on  which  Norbury 
church  stands. 

I  will  only  mention  one  other  geographical  identifica- 
tion. To  a  native  who  has  travelled  it  is  most  conclu- 
sive. In  Chapter  III.  Seth  is  walking  with  Dinah, 
and  is  earnestly  pressing  upon  her  his  matrimonial  suit. 
"  They  had  reached  one  of  those  narrow  passes  be- 
tw^een  two  tall  stones  wdiich  performed  the  office  of  a 
stile  in  Loamshire."  I  can  well  understand  how  a 
person  brought  up  amidst  rural  surroundings  in  W^ar- 
wickshire  would  wonder  at  the  construction  of  a  Staf- 
fordshire stile.  The  description  is  as  precise  as  lan- 
guage can  make  it.  And  yet,  in  spite  of  our  several 
identifications,  w^hich,  in  themselves,  are  unmistakable, 
I  am  fully  persuaded  that  some  stray  bits  of  Warwick- 
shire scenery  have  stolen  into  the  narrative. 

The  dialect  of  Adam  Bede  tells  a  similar  tale.  It  is 
not  the  dialect  of  Warwickshire,  though  words  and 
phrases  which  are  provincialisms  there  have  been  im- 


A    STAFFORDSHIRE    STILE. 

"  Those  very  narrow  |)asses  between  two  tall  stones  which   performed  the  office 
of  a  stile  in  Loamsiiire."     Adam  Bede. 


ADAM  BEDE  FOUNDED  ON  FACT      45 

ported  into  it ;  it  is  intended  to  be,  and  in  the  main  is, 
representative  of  the  common  speech  which  prevailed 
in  the  district  where  Adam  Bede's  early  days  w^ere 
spent.  Dialect  is  a  most  difficult  matter  with  any 
author,  and  we  happen  to  know  that  George  Eliot  set 
much  store  by  that  of  Adam  Bede.  When  Lord 
Lytton  pointed  out  to  her  what  he  considered  two  de- 
fects in  the  book — the  dialect  and  Adam's  marriage 
with  Dinah ,  she  said  to  her  friends ,  "  I  would  rather 
have  my  teeth  drawn  than  part  with  either."  She 
took  special  pains  in  her  dealings  wdth  her  publishers  to 
have  the  provincialisms  of  her  book  correctly  presented. 
It  so  happens  that  the  Staffordshire  dialect  was  familiar 
to  me  from  infancy.  My  first  residence  away  from  this 
county  was  in  Warwickshire,  where  I  became  familiar 
with  the  provincialisms  of  that  county  also.  This  en- 
titles me  to  say  that  as  in  the  geography,  so  in  the  dia- 
lect, a  mixture  from  Warwickshire  has  crept  in.  In 
this  matter  we  are  helped  by  a  suggestion  from  Miss 
Blind.  She  informs  her  readers  in  her  book  on  George 
Eliot,  that  in  the  family  of  Adam  Bede  at  Griff,  "  a 
broad  provincial  dialect  was  spoken."  I  have  no 
doubt  that  this  is  true,  and  that  the  dialect  was  not 
only  broad,  but  mixed  also.  The  dialect  of  the  book 
likewise,  as  of  the  home  is  a  mixture.  This  I  could 
conclusively  prove  were  it  necessary. 

Local  allusions  are  traceable  in  other  particulars. 
The  ordinary  breakfast,  we  learn,  in  the  home  at  Hay- 
slope  w^as  a  first  course  of  oatmeal  porridge,  and  a 
second  of  toasted  oatcake  served  hot.  I  can  quite  be- 
lieve this,  only  I  am  of  opinion  that  good  w^holesome 
milk  would  be  served  with,  the  porridge,  fresh  butter 
or  home-made  lard  would  be  spread  on  the  oatcake,  or 
a  dish  of  toasted  cheese  set  beside  it.       The  oatmeal 


46  THE  TRUE  STORY  OF  GEORGE  ELIOT 

would  be  grown  in  the  parish  and  ground  at  Xorbury 
mill.  Fresh  meat  and  wheaten  bread,  we  are  told, 
were  delicacies  to  the  people  of  Haj^slope  in  the  times 
of  Adam  Bede.  Wheat  was  but  little  grown  north  of 
the  Trent,  and  to  purchase  it  was  a  privilege  reserved 
to  the  well-to-do,  since  its  cost  was  often  four  times  as 
much  as  it  is  in  these  later  days.  The  diet  might  be 
monotonous,  but  it  had  in  it  the  elements  of  vitality 
and  force,  and  there  was  reared  on  it  a  race  of  strong 
and  vigorous  men,  of  which  Adam  and  Seth  Bede  were 
fine  examples.  The  physical  force  of  the  men  of 
Derbyshire  has  passed  into  an  ancient  proverb — 

"Derbyshire  born,  Derbyshire  bred. 
Strong  in  the  arms,  weak  in  the  head." 

About  the  latter  characteristic  I  will  say  nothing,  but 
anyone  visiting  the  charming  county  will  find  it 
peopled  by  a  race  of  sturdy  Saxon  folk. 

The  parish  wakes  would  loom  large  in  the  thoughts 
of  the  people  of  Norbury  and  Ellastone,  and  these  fes- 
tivities are  several  times  alluded  to  in  Adam  Bede. 
Originally  established  as  religious  commemorations, 
they  had  degenerated  into  scenes  of  irreligious  riot. 
Here  our  identifications  must  cease.  ]f  others  were 
needed,  the  book  would  supply  them  in  great  abun- 
dance. Let  us,  however,  complete  our  statement  by 
turning  to  the  account  our  author  has  given  of  the 
origin  of  her  book  in  several  scattered  references.  And, 
first  of  all ,  we  are  not  surprised  to  discover  that  George 
Eliot's  earliest  attempt  at  fiction  was  descriptive  of  a 
Staffordshire  village,  although  it  never  got  beyond  its 
first  chapter  and  was  never  published.  We  also  learn 
that  somewhat  late  in  hfe  she  made  this  acknowledg- 
ment concerning  Adam  Bede  :  "  There  are  things  in  it 


^     OF  THE 

Of        • 


ADAM  BEDE  FOUNDED  ON  FACT      49 

about  my  father,  i.e.,  being  interpreted,  things  my 
father  told  us  concerning  his  early  life."  This  it  was 
that  possessed  the  mind  of  the  father  in  his  old  age, 
and  we  learn  that,  in  the  eight  years  of  his  comparative 
retirement,  when  his  beloved  daughter  was  his  devoted 
house-keeper  and  daily  companion,  his  conversation 
with  her  often  ran  back  to  the  past,  which  was  quite 
natural — 

"When  time,  that  steals  our  years  away, 
Shall  steal  our  pleasures  too, 
The  memory  of  the  past  will  stay. 
And  halt"  our  joys  renew." 

These  happy  conversations,  however,  form  only  one 
portion  of  the  primal  suggestions  from  which  Adajii 
Bede  sprang.  Its  author  says  :  "  The  germ  of  Adam 
Bede  was  an  anecdote  told  me  by  my  Methodist  aunt 
Samuel."  "  The  incident  lay  on  my  mind  for  years, 
till  time  had  made  my  mind  a  nidus  in  which  it  could 
fructify."  "  The  character  of  Dinah  grew  out  of  my 
recollections  of  my  aunt."  "  I  was  very  fond  of  her. 
She  was  loving  and  kind  to  me,  and  I  could  talk  to  her 
of  my  inward  life,  which  was  closely  shut  up  from  those 
usually  round  me." 

These  extracts  introduce  the  relative  who,  after  her 
own  immediate  friends  at  home,  filled  the  largest  space 
in  the  warm  affections  of  George  Eliot  in  the  earlier 
years  of  her  life.  In  1839,  she  writes  to  this  beloved 
aunt  (Dinah  Morris),  in  prospect  of  a  visit  to  her  in 
Wirksworth,  which  afterwards  took  place  :  "  I  have  a 
faint  hope  that  the  pleasure  and  profit  I  have  felt  in 
your  society  may  be  repeated  this  summer ;  there  is  no 
place  I  would  sooner  visit  than  Wirksworth,  or  the  in- 
habitants of  which  have  a  stronger  hold  on  my  affec- 
tions." This  was  not  her  only  visit.  Even  as  a  child 
5 


50       THE   TRUE   STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

of  seven  she  had  been  driven  by  her  father  over  the 
whole  region  covered  by  the  fiction,  and  this  experience 
was  repeated  later  on.  The  bleak  hills  w^ere  familiar 
to  her  own  eyes.  Ellastone  and  Ashbourne  were  well 
known  to  her.  She  mentions  her  visit  to  the  fine 
parish  church  at  the  latter  place,  tells  us  of  the  wonders 
of  Alton  Tow^ers,  of  Lichfield,  its  cathedral  and  monu- 
ments; of  Uttoxeter,  and  other  scenes  of  interest. 
Neither  the  father  nor  his  daughter  could  have  the 
faintest  notion  of  the  use  that  George  Eliot  would  one 
day  make  of  the  material  she  gathered  in  so  natural 
and  simple  a  w^ay  from  her  father  and  her  aunt. 

One  other  visit  to  the  aunt  has  been  described  to  me 
by  four  persons  who  met  her  on  that  occasion.  It 
was  a  more  leisurely  visit  than  those  she  had  made  in 
company  with  her  father.  This  time  she  stayed  with 
her  cousin  Samuel  Evans  the  younger,  who  was  a  dra- 
per and  velvet  manufacturer  in  Wirksworth.  Her 
aunt  and  herself  spent  much  time  together.  She  occu- 
pied some  hours  in  writing  down  the  aunt's  experiences 
from  her  own  lips,  and  was  hardly  ever  seen  in  Wirks- 
w^orth  without  a  notebook  and  pencil  in  her  hand. 

I  know  that  doubt  has  been  thrown  on  the  note-book 
account,  as  being  unlike  the  author,  but  a  recent  writer 
who  knew  her  well  during  her  earlier  life  in  London, 
declares  that  it  was  her  habit  in  those  days  to  carry  her 
note-book  and  pencil  with  her  continually. 

I  have  lingered  on  these  details  because  we  thus  see 
George  Eliot,  all  unconscious  of  their  future  use, 
gathering  the  materials  which,  touched  by  the  hand  of 
her  genius,  were  afterwards  to  be  reproduced  in  such 
form  as  to  command  the  admiration  of  the  world.  How 
many  comedies,  how  many  tragedies,  how  many  start- 
ling   and    entertaining    dramas    are    doomed    to   lie 


ADAM  BEDE  FOUNDED  ON  FACT      51 

dormant  and  cold  in  the  history  of  many  a 
family,  because  there  is  no  skilled  hand  to  draw 
forth  the  latent  fire,  no  literary  artist  to  gather 
up  the  fragments  and  construct  the  story.  To 
us,  how  instructive  it  is  in  the  case  of  Adam 
Bede,  that  not  only  does  the  aged  father,  released  from 
the  bonds  of  active  toil,  fondly  dwell  on  the  simple 
facts  of  his  own  early  life,  in  conversation  with  his  be- 
loved daughter — but  even  the  daughter  herself,  after 
having  acquired  fame  as  a  skilled  literary  artist,  cannot 
refrain  from  going  over  that  past  again  and  again  ;  first, 
in  dealing  with  Mr.  Hackitt,  then  in  delineating  Adam 
Bede,  and  finally  in  portraying  Caleb  Garth. 

Furthermore,  many  competent  critics  have  affirmed 
that  in  George  Eliot's  great  career,  her  freest, 
most  useful,  and  most  abiding  work  is  that  wherein  she 
has  so  copiously  drawn  upon  her  own  experiences  and 
her  capacious  memory.  She  was  thankful,  she  said, 
to  have  written  so  true  a  book  as  Adam  Bede.  By 
this  one  work  she  has  made  myriads  of  readers  her  life- 
long debtors,  she  has  conferred  a  rich  blessing  on  mil- 
lions of  mankind,  she  has  happily  distilled  for  us  sweet 
roses  of  memory,  and  we  may  thankfully  say  that  the 
fragrance  of  the  precious  flowers  is  round  about  the 
book  for  evermore. 


CHAPTEE  IV 

THE    REAL   LIFE    STORY    OF    ADAM    BEDE 

"  I  ask  not  of  his  lineage, 

I  ask  not  of  his  name — 
If  manliness  be  in  his  heart, 

He  noble  birth  may  claim ; 

The  palace  or  the  hovel. 

Where  first  his  life  began, 
I  ask  not  of ;  but  answer  this — 

Is  he  an  honest  man?" 

The  person  whom  we  know  as  Adam  Bede,  in  real  life 
was  known  as  Eobert  Evans.  His  career  began  its 
course  in  the  home  we  have  described,  standing  on  Ecs- 
ton  Common.  He  w^as  the  fourth  son  of  George  and 
Mary  Evans,  and  was  born  in  1773.  In  those  days 
the  common  was  a  breezy  spot,  with  wide  open  spaces 
all  around.  Only  the  name  of  a  common  remains  to- 
day. In  1824  it  was  enclosed  and  appropriated.  The 
house  stood  by  the  wayside,  with  the  workshop,  the 
timber-stacks  and  the  saw  pit  at  the  south  end.  In 
Adam  Bede  we  read  of  another  workshop  at  Hayslope, 
where  Mr.  Jonathan  Burge  was  the  proprietor,  and 
Adam  and  Seth  Bede  were  employed  as  journeymen. 

We  may  as  well  dismiss  the  idea  of  a  Mr.  Jonathan 
Burge  from  our  minds.  He  and  his  workshop  are  a 
creation  of  the  literary  artist  to  fill  up  the  plan  of  lier 
story.      Mary  Burge  need  not  excite  one  whit  of  either 

52 


THE  REAL  LIFE  STORY  OF  ADAM  BEDE        53 

our  admiration  or  compassion.  She  is  purely  a  child 
of  the  magician's  wand.  She  was  ideally  required,  and 
she  came.  She  has  served  her  purpose  as  a  foil  to 
other  characters,  therefore  we  may  as  well  dispense 
with  her. 
It  was  in  the  father's  workshop  that  Adam  Bede  first 


HOUSE    IN    ELLASTOXE    (hAYSLOPE). 

Home  of  Robert  Evans  (Adam  Bede)  and  subsequently  of  William  Evans,  Senr.,  and 
William  Evans,  Junr.,  the  famous  builders. 

plied  his  craft.  The  business  was  of  an  inclusive  kind. 
A  considerable  part  of  its  range  was  to  manufacture 
implements  and  appliances,  carts  and  wagons,  for  the 
use  of  farmers.  Iron  was  not  employed  then  for  ploughs 
and  harrows  as  it  is  to-day.  Hand  labour  had  not 
been  displaced  by  machinery,  as  is  the  case  now. 
Hence,  a  considerable  variety  of  tools  had  to  be  made 


54  THE  TRUE  STORY  OF  GEORGE  ELIOT 

locally.  The  village  carpenter  also  manufactured  the 
greater  portion  of  the  useful  household  furniture  re- 
quired by  his  neighbours ;  he  was  the  coffin-maker  and 
undertaker  for  the  whole  locality,  and  if  new  houses, 
cow^-sheds,  barns  or  stables  were  required,  he  would 
undertake  their  erection. 

It  w^as  in  this  homely  and  useful  industry  that  Adam 
Bede  commenced  his  successful  career.  He  was 
schooled  to  hard  work  from  the  beginning.  There  is 
no  doubt  he  w^as  a  favourite  pupil  of  Bartle  Massey. 
Neither  is  there  any  doubt  that  he  was  the  most  hope- 
ful of  the  five  sons  of  his  father,  although  only  the 
fourth.  The  eldest  brother  was  a  generous  good- 
hearted  fellow,  but  the  bhghting  and  paralysing  temp- 
tation of  strong  drink  fastened  its  cruel  fangs  on  him 
in  early  manhood.  In  consequence  of  this  evil  he  did 
not  make  the  best  of  his  life,  and  w^as  the  only  one  of 
the  brothers  who  did  not  survive  to  old  age. 

Adam  Bede  made  his  first  independent  venture  in 
life  by  setting  up  in  business  for  himself  in  the  village 
of  Ellastone,  the  next  adjoining  parish  to  Norbury, 
only  divided  from  it  by  the  river  Dove.  Ellastone 
afforded  a  more  eligible  situation  for  business  and 
is  a  much  larger  parish.  I  do  not  think  the  young 
artisan  had  at  this  time  any  ambition  beyond  that  of 
being  a  hard-w^orking,  energetic  carpenter  and  builder. 
Out  of  his  father's  workshop  he  stepped  into  one  of  his 
own,  still  in  friendly  relations  with  the  old  home  and 
the  old  business,  which  went  on  for  some  years  under 
the  superintendence  of  the  father,  assisted  by  others  of 
the  sons. 

Eventually,  the  establishment  of  Boston  Common 
was  broken  up  and  its  interests  concentrated  at  Ella- 
stone, where  the  old  gentleman   died  at  the   age  of 


THE  REAL  LIFE  STORY  OF  ADAM  BEDE       53 

ninety  years,  a.d.  1830.  How  Adam  Bede  came  to 
give  up  his  prosperous  business  in  Ellastone  is  a  story 
quite  easy  to  telL  In  the  parish  there  is  a  picturesque 
gentleman's  seat  called  Wootton  Hall.  It  is  situated 
on  the  southern  slope  of  Weaver  Hill  close  to  the  ham- 


WOOTTOX    HALL     (dONNITHORNE    CHASE). 

The  seat  of  the  Bromley  Davenports,  occupied  by  Francis  Newdegate,  Esq. 
(Donnithome)  at  the  beginning  of  last  century. 

let  of  Wootton.     Concerning  this  small  place  there  is 
a  couplet  which  says  : 

"  Wootton   under   Weaver, 
Where  God  comes  never  !" 

I  have  heard  it  said  that,  if  the  statement  expressed 
in  this  couplet  had  been  really  true,  a  much  greater 


56       THE   TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

number  of  persons  would  have  made  it  their  abode  than 
Wootton  has  ever  contained,  which  is  hkely  enough  to 
be  a  true  statement,  since  from  the  tenor  of  their  Uves 
it  w^ould  appear  there  are  many  who  would  wish  to  get 
away  from  God,  were  it  only  possible  to  do  so.  I 
imagine  that  the  author  of  the  couplet,  which  is  at 
least  two  centuries  old,  held  a  view^  of  Wootton  which 
w^as  not  intended  to  be  complimentary  to  its 
inhabitants. 

I  have  often  thought  that  this  little  hamlet  may  have 
been  in  the  author's  mind  when  she  wrote  of  Hay- 
slope.  It  has  many  things  in  its  favour,  though, 
doubtless,  Ellastone  must  retain  the  preference. 
Wootton  has  the  distinction  of  giving  a  name  to  two 
romantic  country  seats,  the  other  being  the  family 
abode  of  the  Unwins,  and  is  called  Wootton  Lodge. 
This  building  is  a  castellated  mansion,  said  to  have 
been  designed  by  Inigo  Jones.  The  scenery  around  it 
has  inexpressible  charm,  and  it  is  melancholy  to  reflect 
that  the  noble  house  is  dismantled  now%  owning  to  the 
vagaries  of  its  present  owner,  the  well-known  litigant, 
Mrs.  Cathcart,  whom  I  well  remember  as  a  Miss 
Unwin,  and  an  heiress,  many  years  ago.  The  scaffold 
poles  on  the  roof  of  the  house  will  show^  that  the 
builders  are  now  engaged  in  works  of  restoration. 

In  my  early  days  Wootton  Hall  was  both  owned  and 
occupied  by  the  Eev.  Walter  Davenport  Bromley,  an 
eccentric  and  wealthy  clergyman.  By  purchase  he 
greatly  extended  the  estate,  and  spent  large  sums  of 
money  in  reclaiming  and  developing  a  wide  tract  of 
land  on  Weaver  Hills  ;  bringing  it  into  cultivation  and 
erecting  upon  it  fences,  farm-houses  and  out-buildings, 
raising  plantations  here  and  there,  and  so  parcelling 
out  into  farms  an  expanse  which  had  been  mostly  an 


THE  REAL  LIFE  STORY  OF  ADAM  BEDE        57 

unproductive  waste,  covered  with  thorns,  gorse  and 
bracken.  Well  do  I  remember  standing  at  the  front 
door  of  my  father's  house  when  a  boy,  to  watch  in  the 
evenings  the  blazing  fires  which  continued  for  months 


WOOTTOX    LODGE,    THE    COUNTRY    SEAT    OF    THE    UXWINS. 


full  in  our  view,  whereby  the  low  brushwood  on  Weaver 
was  consumed  to  ashes  preparatory  to  the  cultivation 
of  the  soil. 

Little  did  I  think  in  those  days  that  my  eldest  sister, 
then  a  young  child  at  home,  would  spend  the  whole 
of  her  married  years  as  a  veritable  ^Irs.  Poyser  in  real 
life,  the  cheerful  and  busy  wife  of  an  old  schoolmate 
of  mine,  Mr.  Jas.  W^heeldon,  who  has  in  the  process  of 
years  become  the  senior  tenant-farmer  on  the  Wootton 
estate,  and  has  occupied  in  succession  tw^o  of  the  farms 


58       THE    TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT  .» 

reclaimed  by  the  enterprise  of  the  Eev.  Walter 
Davenport  Bromley.  As  far  as  I  know,  this  gentleman 
was  the  only  proprietor  who,  during  the  last  century, 
occupied  Wootton  Hall  for  any  length  of  time.  Its 
usual  fate  has  been  to  be  let  to  a  tenant,  and  it  was 
so  let  in  the  days  of  Adam  Bede. 

The  necessities  of  the  case  would  seem  to  make  this 
hall  an  indispensable  part  of  the  belongings  of  the 
author's  story.  It  should  be  the  "  Donnithorne 
Chase  "  we  read  of,  if  there  be  any  agreement  at  all 
between  the  biography  and  geography  of  the  fiction. 
On  this  point  there  has  been  much  speculation.  Some 
writers  are  of  opinion  that  Arbury  Hall,  in  Warwick- 
shire, is  the  real  prototype  of  Donnithorne  Chase; 
others  affirm  that  Calwich  Abbey,  near  Ellastone,  the 
residence  of  the  Buncombes,  has  that  distinction.  I 
think  the  latter  has  been  mentioned  because  of  the  sug- 
gestion conveyed  in  the  name  that  it  has  some  time 
or  other  been  the  home  of  a  religious  fraternity,  which 
is  quite  true,  and  is  true  also  of  Arbury.  But  I  am 
of  opinion,  weighing  all  the  circumstances  of  the  case, 
that  Wootton  Hall  is  the  true  original  of  the  Donni- 
thorne Chase. 

It  was  the  squire  of  Wootton  Hall  who  lifted  Adam 
Bede  out  of  his  native  surroundings  and  gave  to  his  life 
an  entirely  new  direction.  This  was  one  Francis 
Parker  Newdegate,  a  scion  of  the  Newdegates  of  West 
Hallam  Hall,  near  Ilkeston,  and  also  a  relative  of  the 
Newdegates  of  Arbury  Hall  and  Astley  Castle  in  War- 
wickshire. This  gentleman  occupied  Wootton  Hall 
for  some  years  prior  to  his  succeeding  to  the  extensive 
estates  which  afterwards  fell  to  his  lot  both  in  Derby- 
shire and  W^arwickshire ,  and  of  which  he  was  the 
owner  till  death  deprived  him  in  1835.     It  was  during 


THE  REAL  LIFE  STORY  OF  ADAM  BEDE       59 

Mr.  Newdegate's  residence  at  Wootton  that  he  made 
the  acquaintance  of  Adam  Bede. 

At  first  the  clever  young  artisan  was  employed  in  his 
regular  handicraft,  which  appears  to  have  given  lively 
satisfaction.  He  also  formed  an  acquaintance  with  one 
Harriet  Poynton,  who  was  a  highly-esteemed  and  ccn- 


WEST    HALLAM    HALL,    DERBYSHIRE  ;    SEAT    OF    THE    XEWDEGATES. 


fidential  servant  in  the  Xewdegate  family,  and  wdio 
ultimately  became  his  first  wife. 

I  was  engaged  to  lecture  in  the  Parish  Schoolroom 
at  Ellastone,  in  February,  1904,  with  the  vicar  as  my 
chairman.       I  had  written  to  that  gentleman,  sug- 


60       THE   TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

gesting  that  he  might,  in  all  probability,  find  in  his 
parish  register  the  record  of  the  marriage  of  Eobert 
Evans  (Adam  Bede)  with  this  same  Harriet  Poynton. 
The  vicar  brought  the  register  to  the  meeting,  and, 
having  found  the  record  named,  read  it  aloud  to  the 
hearers.      Here  is  a  copy  of  it  : 

"Robert  Evans  of  this  parish  Bachelor  and  Harriet  Poyn- 
ton of  this  parish  Spinster,  were  married  in  this  church  by 
Banns  this  27th  day  of  May,  1801,  By  me.  John  Webb, 
Curate. 

This  marriage  was  solemnised  between  us 

Robert  Evans 
Harriet  Poynton 
in  the  presence  of  Thomas  Nicklin 

Ann  Alcock." 

Some  of  Adam  Bede's  relatives  imbibed  the  notion 
that  this  union  had  not  a  little  to  do  with  his  speedy 
promotion.  Be  this  as  it  may,  the  advancement  was 
sufficiently  remarkable  and  was  eminently  satisfactory 
to  both  parties.  It  is  evident  that  Adam  Bede's  first 
wife  was  a  person  much  valued  by  the  Newdegates, 
inasmuch  as  one  of  the  New^degate  tablets  in  the  chan- 
cel of  Astley  Church  bears  her  name  and  records  the 
fact  that  she  was  for  ' '  many  years  the  friend  and 
servant  of  the  family  at  Arbury." 

It  is  also  manifest  that  Adam  Bede  himself  won  and 
retained  the  entire  confidence  of  the  Newdegates  of 
more  than  one  generation.  When  Mr.  Francis  Parker 
Newdegate  became  the  owner  of  the  West  Hallam 
estate,  he  resolved  to  have  Adam  Bede  as  his  estate 
manager  and  steward.  In  view  of  this  appointment 
the  business  at  Ellastone  was  transferred  to  his  brother 
Thomas,  while  he  himself,  in  addition  to  exercising  the 
functions  of  stew^ard,  became  a  farmer  also,  residing 
at  Kirk  Hallam. 


THE  REAL  LIFE  STORY  Oh  ADAM  BEDE 


61 


The  death  of  Sir  Eoger  Newdegate,  M.P.,  in  1806, 
wrought  another  change  in  the  fortunes  of  Adam  Bede. 
His  patron  now  succeeded  to  the  Arbury  Hall  and 
Astley  Castle  estate,  the  baronetcy  becoming  extinct, 
This  estate  was  much  more  important  than  that  at 
West    Hal  lam,    and    was    at    once    placed    under    the 


FARMHOUSE,    KIRK    HALI.AM, 

Where  Robert  Kvans  (Adam  Rede)  lived  from  1S02  till  1806. 

management  of  Adam  Bede.  The  farm  he  had  oc- 
cupied at  Kirk  Hallam  was  now^  transferred  to  his 
brother  Thomas,  with  a  sub-agency,  and  the  business 
at  Ellastone  passed  to  their  brother  William,  in  whose 
hands,  and  those  of  his  son,  it  rose  to  great  distinction. 
In  Warwickshire,  the  newly-appointed  steward  be- 
came a  farmer,  even  as  he  had  been  at  Kirk  Hallam. 


62     THE     TRUE     STORY     OF     GEORGE    ELIOT 

For  a  period  of  fourteen  years  he  occupied  Arbury 
Farm,  close  to  Arbury  Park.  Here  the  first  Mrs.  Evans 
died,  in  1809,  leaving  two  children,  Eobert  and  Frances 
Lucy.  My  aunt  Harriett  was  named  after  this  good 
woman,  and  my  mother  after  her  only  daughter. 

In  1813  the  second  marriage  occurred  ;  three  children 
were  born  of  this  union,  of  whom  "  George  Eliot  "  was 
the  youngest,  her  birth  happening  in  December,  1819. 
The  next  year  Arbury  Farm  w^as  given  up  and  Griff 
House,  with  the  farm  attached  to  it,  became  the  abode 
of    the    family   for   the   remaining   portion    of  Adam    , 
Bede's  business  career.        It  is  a   spacious  dwelling, 
pleasantly    situated   by    the    side    of   the    road    from   \ 
Nuneaton  to  Coventry,  and  embosomed  among  shrubs  | 
and  trees.        Everything  now  prospered   with   Adam  ; 
Bede.     His  dairying  business  was  well  managed  by  his  ' 
thrifty  and  capable  wife,  and  he  himself  became  an  , 
acknowledged  authority  in  the  management  of  estates  i 
for    many     miles     around.         One    landowner     after  j 
another  engaged  his  services,  until  he  became  chief  •■ 
steward  to  Lord  Aylesford,  Lord  Lifford,  Mr.  Bromley  i 
Davenport,  and  other  proprietors.       Besides  this,  he  i 
was  in  large  request  as  consulting  steward,  arbitrator  ! 
and  valuer.  With  his  familiar  horse  and  gig  he  t 

covered  many  thousands  of  miles  every  year.  , 

As  a  stew^ard  he  seems  to  have  been  both  wuse  and  \ 
just,  but  to  the  thriftless  and  incapable  he  could  be 
relentless  and  firm.     If  tenants  w^ere  in  difficulties,  but  : 
exhibited   worthy   traits   of   character,   he   would   be  j 
patient  and  helpful,  and  while  retaining  the  confidence  \ 
of  all  his  clients,  he  was  also  respected  and  trusted  by 
the  tenantry.     He  was  a  staunch  churchman  and  a  < 
steadfast  Tory,  who  believed  with  an  unwavering  faith 
in  the  existing  institutions  both  in  Church  and  State,  \ 


THE  REAL  LIFE  STORY  OF  xVDAM  BEDE 


63 


and  was  not  quick  to  see  why  others  should  be  dissatis- 
fied with  a  social  order  which  gave  him  so  much  com- 
placency. That  they  were  dissatisfied  was  not  to 
their  credit;  still,  he  was  too  tolerant  and  too  busy  to 


,j^^ 

._ 

J,^^ 

A,-J 

'■  *^ 

B."V»- 

1 

3 

1 

^ 

1 

sl 

ijb        ^ 

N 

9 

^^^^^E.                               Mm 

m 

(hi 

^Bi 

f^B^^^^H 

^^^^^^^^^^^S^S^^^^ 

9. 

^^S 

^^^^E^B 

THE    TINY    CHURCH    AT    KIRK  HALLAM,    OPPOSITE    TO    THE    FARM    OCCUPIED 
BY    ROBERT    EVANS    (aDAM    BEDE). 


interfere  with  them  for  their  religious  or  political 
views ;  nevertheless,  it  could  be  seen  that  such  persons 
did  not  rank  high  in  his  judgment. 

The  presentation  of  Adam  Bede  in  the  novel  only 
relates  to  the  Derbyshire  and  Staffordshire  days,  while 


64       THE    TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT 

in  Mr.  Hackit  and  Caleb  Garth  we  have  the  steward' 
farmer  of  later  life.  The  author  guards  us  against  the 
supposition  that  Adam  Bede  is  an  exact  portrayal  of 
her  father,  and  we  are  bound  to  accept  her  unquestion- 
able authority.  Nevertheless,  it  is  pointed  out  by  her 
personal  friends,  Mr.  Oscar  Browning  and  Sir  LesHe 
Stephen,  that  much  more  of  her  experiences  in  real 
life  crept  into  her  stories  than  she  was  fully  conscious 
of  or  would  even  allow.  All  who  knew  the  Eobert 
Evans  of  real  life  and  his  prosperous  and  useful  career 
would  acknowledge  that  his  portrayal  in  Adam  Bede 
is  just  such  an  one  as  might  have  been  suggested  by 
the  author's  close  knowledge  of  her  own  father. 

And  w^hat  is  it  that  we  have  before  us  in  the  portrait 
of  Adam?  I  make  no  hesitation  whatever  in  saying 
that  we  have  here  the  finest  description  of  a  workman 
which  literature  has  ever  produced.  To  have  painted 
for  us  such  a  character  amid  such  surroundings  and 
such  issues,  the  authoress  has  become  a  world-benefac- 
tress. What  a  manly  man  is  Adam  Bede  !  Doubtless, 
he  has  his  faults.  He  is  imperious,  impatient  and 
somewhat  austere  in  his  judgments  at  times,  but  in  the 
inner  soul  of  him  how  tender  he  is,  how  truthful,  how 
independent,  how  magnanimous,  how  real,  how  re- 
verent and  godly.  How  well  worthy  of  his  place  as 
bass  singer  in  Norbury  Church  choir  is  this  real  Adam 
Bede.  There  is  no  festering  mould  of  weakness  any- 
where, none  of  that  "moral  see-saiv  "  which,  in 
Arthur  Donnithorne,  was  the  cause  of  irresolution  and 
mischief.  This  is  a  rare  character.  You  find  in  Adam 
not  an  atom  of  pretence,  cant,  or  humbug.  Here  is  a 
man  true  to  himself,  and  has  not  our  great  poet  told 
us  that  he  who  is  true  to  himself  can  never  be  fal^t^ 
to  any  other  man?     He  loves  work;  to  him  it  is  ik  i 


THE  REAL  LIFE  STORY  OF  ADAM  BEDE        67 

sent  as  a  curse,  but  is  taken  as  it  is — a  real  blessing 
both  to  the  worker  himself  and  the  world  he  helps  and 
adorns.  He  will  be  just,  whether  to  employers  or  em- 
ployed, and  he  will  ever  do  all  his  work  as  consciously 
under  the  Great  Taskmaster's  eye.  How  pleasant  is 
the  picture  of  him  breaking  the  concert  of  the  tools  in 
the  workshop  at  Hayslope  by  singing  in  manly  sonorous 
tones  : 

"  Let  all  thy  converse  be  sincere, 
Thy  conscience  as  the  noonday  clear : 
For  God's  all-seeing  eye  surveys 
Thy  secret  thoughts,  thy  works  and  ways." 

1  When  the  work  for  the  day  is  all  done  the  same  noble 
strain  fills  his  soul  and  employs  his  voice  as  he  plods 
his  way  homeward.  You  have  here  a  man  who  hates 
with  burning  hatred  all  that  is  mean  and  contemptible , 
despises  all  shams,  and  has  honestly  deserved  all  the 
success  he  has  won  in  the  world.  It  does  us  good  to 
contemplate  the  picture  of  such  a  model  of  a  man 
as  this. 

Two  brief  extracts  from  letters  written  by  Adam 
Bede  to  his  brother  Seth ,  when  both  were  advancing  in 
years,  w^ill  serve  to  show  on  what  excellent  terms  the 
brothers  were  to  the  last,  and  will  help  to  confirm  the 
view  of  Adam  portrayed  for  us  by  his  gifted  daughter. 
They  were  both  dated  from  Foleshill,  the  home  of  re- 
tirement, near  Coventry.  They  will  also  show  that 
even  in  his  days  of  age  and  leisure  he  was  fre- 
quently engaged  as  consulting  steward  for  some  of  his 
old  employers,  to  whom  he  still  alludes  as  his  masters. 

"  I  am  very  thankful  that  my  health  is  pretty  good,  and  I 
am  happy  with  my  masters,  and  go  on  very  pleasantly  with  all 
of  them,  but  I  feel  my  strength  failing  me  in  some  degree  this 
last  year.       I  cannot  walk  so  much  as  I  wish  to  do,  as  I  like 


68       THE   TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT 

walking  so  much  better  than  riding  when  I  go  over  farms.  T 
am  glad  to  hear  that  my  brother  William  is  better  [Mr.  Wm. 
Evans,  senr.,  of  Ellastone]  ;  he  is,  I  believe,  going  into  his  7oth 
year  and  I  am  in  my  71st.  We  must  not  expect  to  continue 
here  many  more  years,  but  we  must  be  like  good  soldiers. 
When  the  word  of  command  is  given  I  hope  we  shall  be  both 
ready  and  willing  to  obey  the  call,  and  leave  all  these  good 
things  provided  for  us  here  which  we  enjoy  so  much,  and  which 
I  am  very  thankful  for  as  well  for  my  family  as  for  myself,  as 
I  have  been  blessed  in  this  world  more  than  I  ever  expected  to 
be.  Mary  Ann  (George  Eliot)  is  very  well,  and  sends  her  love 
to  you.  I  am  glad  to  hear  that  your  wife  [Dinah  Morris] 
holds  pretty  well.  Give  my  best  respects  and  love  to  her,  and 
accept  the  same  yourself  from 

''Your   loving   brother, 

''R.  Evans." 

This  letter  is  written  "  September  22nd,  1843,"  and 
there  is  a  later  one  under  date  of  "  May  27th,  1844." 
In  this  the  writer  makes  a  statement  which  one  could 
appropriately  associate  with  the  Adam  Bede  we  know 
in  literature. 

"  I  hope  your  health  will  continue  good  so  that  you  can  per- 
form your  duties.  It  is  a  happy  thing  that  you  have  not  to 
keep  the  accounts,  as  you  are  getting  older  every  day.  Look- 
ing after  the  workmen  is  a  pleasure  to  me ;  I  had  rather  do  it 
than  not.  Those  who  have  been  industrious  and  have  led  an 
active  life  will  never  be  so  happy  out  of  business,  though  they 
could  afford  it." 

There  speaks  the  old,  practical,  common-sense  Adam 
Bede. 

One  story  told  me  by  the  youngest  son  and  successor 
in  the  estate  agency  of  the  real  Adam  Bede  I  will  here 
relate.  It  was  my  pleasure  to  dine  with  this  gentle- 
man (Mr.  Isaac  Pearson  Evans)  in  the  Inns  of  Court 
Hotel,  in  Holborn,  in  the  month  of  October,  1890. 
He  was  then  a  fine,  hale-looking  man,  upright  in 
stature,  fresh  in  complexion,  positive  in  speech,  with 

i 


THE  REAL  LIFE  STORY  OF  ADAM  BEDE        69 

the  strongly-marked  characteristics  of  the  Evans 
family.  You  could  always  trace  in  the  Evanses,  as  I 
knew  them,  a  certain  self-respecting  dignity,  definite- 
ness  of  opinion,  a  good  degree  of  confidence  in  their 
own  judgment,  strong  common-sense,  strict  regard  for 
truth,  sterling  uprightness,  deep-toned  reverence,  and 
supreme  respect  for  that  which  is  proper  and  respect- 
able. At  the  time  of  our  interview,  Mr.  Evans  was  over 
seventy  years  of  age,  and  had  not  been  very  w^ell. 
Still,  to  look  at  him,  one  would  have  thought  that  there 
might  be  in  store  for  him  several  years  of  useful 
activity  before  the  end  came.  He  told  me,  however, 
that  of  late  the  feeling  had  come  over  him  that  his 
active  work  was  nearly,  if  not  quite,  done.  I  re- 
minded him  of  the  old  age  of  many  of  our  mutual  re- 
lations, and  said  I  could  see  no  reason  why  he  should 
not  attain  a  similar  age.  His  only  reply  was,  with  a 
deep-drawn  sigh,  to  say  that  he  had  the  feeling  it  was 
not  to  be  so.  Within  four  days  of  this  interview  he 
was  summoned  hence  by  sudden  death  ! 

It  w^as  not  for  this  solemn  intimation  that  I  intro- 
duced Mr.  Evans'  name  in  this  connexion,  but  to  re- 
late an  anecdote  he  told  me,  illustrative  of  the  charac- 
ter of  his  father,  the  original  Adam  Bede.  He  said 
that  one  day  tow^ards  the  end  of  his  life  his  father  re- 
ferred to  the  moderate  estate  he  w^ould  leave  behind 
him.  He  said  it  would  not  be  found  to  be  a  large 
amount,  that  many  men  placed  in  his  circumstances 
would  have  grown  very  rich,  hut  that  he  had  always 
made  it  his  first  aim  in  life  to  do  the  best  he  could  for 
all  the  clients  who  had  employed  him.  What  a  differ- 
ent world  it  would  be  if  all  were  equally  true  to  their 
trusts  ! 

I  think  this  picture  of  the  real  Adam  Bede,  from  the 


70       THE   TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT 

lips  of  his  son,  may  fitly  close  our  account  of  his 
worthy  life.  Does  it  not  agree  perfectly  with  the 
finished  presentation  of  him  given  us  by  his  gifted 
daughter  in  her  noble  book?  and  does  it  not  discover 
to  us  the  lofty  ideals  of  an  honest  man?  Is  it  not  also 
a  true  saying  about  an  honest  man  given  to  us  by 
Alexander  Pope — and  such  as  he  describes,  in  truth, 
was  Adam  Bede  always  : 

"A  wit's  a  feather,  and  a  chief  a  rod; 
An  honest  man's  the  noblest  work  of  God." 


CHAPTEE    V 

ALL   ABOUT   MRS.    POYSER 

"Though    long    the    wanderer    may    depart, 

And  far  his  footsteps  roam, 
He  clasps  the  closer  to  his  heart 

The  image  of  his  home. 
To  that  loved  land,  where'er  he  goes, 

His  tenderest  thoughts  are  cast, 
And  dearer  still  through  absence  grows 

The  memory  of  the  past." — Burns. 

In  our  endeavour  to  trace  the  original  of  Mrs.  Poyser 
we  must  needs  concern  ourselves  with  the  household  at 
Griff,  for  it  is  thitherward  our  eyes  must  be  turned 
if  we  would  pursue  her  identity.  I  used  to  think  that 
the  Hall  farm  must  be  sought  for  in  Staffordshire  ;  I 
am  now  quite  clear  that  Griff  House  affords  us  the 
scene  where  the  prototype  of  Mrs.  Poyser  actually  lived 
and  reigned  as  the  presiding  genius  of  the  place.  This 
harmonises  with  the  view  expressed  in  a  former  chapter 
that  the  geography  and  dialect  of  Adam  Bede  are  a 
cross  between  Staffordshire  and  Warwickshire.  On 
many  grounds  I  am  persuaded  that  in  writing  of  the 
Hall  Farm  George  Eliot  had  Griff  House  in  her  mind, 
and  that  in  delineating  for  our  instruction  and  diversion 
the  dehghtful  character  of  Mrs.  Poyser  she  took  as  her 
original  no  other  person  than  her  ow^n  mother.  We 
have  seen  that  Adam  Bede  was  a  farmer  at  Griff  as 

71 


72       THE   TRUE   STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

well  as  steward  of  the  estate  to  which  the  farm  be- 
longed. It  is  a  little  disconcerting  perhaps  to  find  that 
the  same  actual  person  should  supply  the  lines  of  sug- 
gestion for  two  characters  in  the  same  story,  but  then 
we  have  to  remember  that  it  is  fiction  that  is  given  us 
in  the  book,  and  according  to  its  laws  this  is  by  no 
means  impossible.  It  may  be  noted  also  that,  in  his 
daughter's  fiction,  Adam  Bede  has  two  acknowledged 
aliases,  viz.,  Mr.  Hackit  and  Caleb  Garth,  and  that 
Mrs.  Poyser  has  at  least  one  in  the  person  of  Mrs. 
Hackit,  who  cared  so  pityingly  for  the  amiable  Milly 
Barton. 

When  Adam  Bede  was  written  George  Eliot  was  for 
ever  separated  from  her  old  Warwickshire  home,  yet 
her  literary  record  shows  how  closely  its  memories 
clung  to  her,  and  how  her  genius  continued  to  w^ork 
among  the  fond  recollections  gathered  there.  In  her 
works  of  fiction  her  relatives  turn  up  again 
and  again,  as  witness  the  three  separate 
stories  in  Scenes  from  Clerical  Life,  in 
Adam  Bede,  in  The  Mill  on  the  Floss,  and  in  Middle- 
march.  These  all  deal  with  her  cherished  memories  of 
the  past,  and  in  every  one  of  them  her  loved  relations 
are  among  the  originals.  Let  us  not  be  surprised, 
therefore,  if  the  remembrances  of  the  past  as  relating 
to  her  father  and  mother  supplied  to  her  prolific  genius 
the  slender  framework  of  suggestion,  out  of  which  were 
evolved  the  fine  characters  of  Martin  and  Mrs.  Poyser, 
as  well  as  of  other  attractive  personalities  in  the 
author's  several  stories. 

We  may  now  turn  to  the  noble  farm-house  at  Griff, 
and  regard  it  as  the  undoubted  scene  of  Mrs.  Poyser's 
skilful  management  as  wife,  mother,  mistress  of 
the    household    and    dairy  woman.       In    those    days 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


ALL   ABOUT   MRS.    POYSER  75 

farm  labour  was  not  all  wrought  out  of  doors  as 
is  mostly  the  case  now.  This  country  did  not 
then  import  its  chief  supplies  of  cheese  and 
bacon  from  the  United  States  and  the  Dominion 
of  Canada,  nor  were  our  great  and  ever-growing  towns 
supplied  with  fresh  butter  from  Denmark,  Holland, 
Normandy  and  Lombardy.  Hard  as  the  men  toiled 
out  of  doors,  the  women  worked  as  laboriously  indoors 
in  the  constant  drudgery  of  dairy  manufactures,  added 
to  ordinary  domestic  industry.  To  produce  from  the 
milk  of  kine  good,  sound,  well-flavoured  cheese,  and 
choice,  sweet  butter,  is  not  an  easy  thing  to  do.  There 
are  delicate  processes  to  be  gone  through  which  re- 
quire no  ordinary  degree  of  forethought,  judgment,  and 
skill ;  wdiile  unremitting  care  and  labour  are  certainly 
entailed.  "  I've  made  one  quarter  o'  th'  rent  and 
saved  another  quarter,"  says  Mrs.  Poyser  in  her 
stormy  remonstrance  with  Mr.  Donnithorne.  How 
true  a  picture  is  involved  in  those  w^ords,  and  how  often 
have  I  heard  precisely  similar  expressions  among  the 
busy  housewives  and  skilful  dairywomen  of  Stafford- 
shire and  Derbyshire.  Often  the  farmer  has  had  to 
look  to  the  product  of  the  cheese-room  for  the  supply 
of  his  rent,  to  say  nothing  of  rates,  taxes,  and  wages. 
Hence,  how  all-important  is  the  manufacture  carried 
on  in  the  dairy  from  day  to  day  under  the  vigilant  eye 
and  by  the  careful  hands  of  the  farmer's  wife.  The 
modern  factory  system  and  the  sale  of  milk  to  supply 
the  needs  of  the  great  towns  have  changed  all  this,  and 
what  appears  singular  is  that  foreign-made  dairy  pro- 
ducts seem  to  command  readier  sale  than  those  still 
manufactured  from  the  fair  pastures  of  old  England. 
In  the  days  of  Adam  Bede  it  was  not  so,  and,  indoors 
and  out,  farming  required  constant  toil,  as  witness  the 


76      THE    TRUE    STORY    OF    GEORGE    ELIOT 

distich  I  remember  from  the  time  I  was  a  boy,  though 
I  confess  I  did  not  very  well  like  it  then  : 

"  Man   to   the   plough, 
Wife  to  the  sow, 
Boy  to  the   flail, 
Girl  to  the  pail, 

And   your   gains   will   be    netted:  — 
But    man    Tallyho, 
Miss,  piano. 

Boy,    Greek    and    Latin, 
Wife,   silk  and  satin, 
And  you'll  soon  be  gazetted." 

There  was  not  the  slightest  danger  of  any 
catastrophe  of  this  kind  under  the  smart  regime  of 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Poyser.  Quite  as  strongly  as  Adam  Bede 
himself,  this  excellent  farmer's  wife  and  skilled  dairy- 
woman  believed  in  the  wholesome  discipline  of  labour, 
and  practised  in  their  highest  degree  of  perfection  the 
salutary  duties  of  household  management.  There  is 
no  doubt  that  all  this  may  be  applied  to  our  author's 
mother,  and,  for  several  years,  to  the  author  herself. 
If  we  blend  in  one  the  characters  of  Mrs.  Hackit  in 
Amos  Barton  (Scenes  from  Clerical  Life)  and  Mrs. 
Poyser  in  Adam  Bede,  we  may  w^ell  gather  what 
George  Eliot's  mother  really  was.  Indeed,  Miss 
Blind  feels  so  confident  on  this  point  that  she  traces 
to  inheritance  from  the  mother  George  Eliot's  pointed 
speech,  racy  humour,  and  marvellous  powers  of  obser- 
vation. After  her  mother's  death  in  1836,  and  the 
marriage  of  the  elder  sister  in  1837,  our  author  be- 
came herself  the  busy  housekeeper  and  skilful  dairy- 
woman  at  Griff  for  the  space  of  four  years.  Surely  it 
is  a  suggestive  picture — the  future  writer  of  Adam 
Bede,  Middlemarch,  Romola,  and  Daniel  Deronda 
toiling  in  this  capacity.       I  wonder  if  in  the  United 


ALL   ABOUT   MRS.    POYSER 


77 


Kingdom  there  could  have  been  found  another  dairy- 
woman  who  was  at  the  same  time  proficient  in  the 
Latin,  Greek,  French,  and  German  languages,  was 
studying  Spanish  and  Italian  under  a  master,  receiv- 
ing weekly  music  lessons,  reading  a  variety  of  secular 


CHILVERS    COTON    CHURCH,    NUNEATON 
(The  Shepperton  Church  of  Scenes  from  Clerical  Life). 


and  sacred  literature,  and  pursuing  at  the  same  time 
an  earnest  Christian  life  in  which  you  find  from  a  letter 
of  hers  belonging  to  this  period  that  one  of  the 
cherished  aspirations  of  her  heart  finds  expression  in 
the  words,  "May  I  seek  to  be  sanctified  wholly!" 
How  suggestive  is  all  this.  There  rests  upon  this 
young   woman   the   care   of   the   household   and   the 


7S       THE   TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT 

management  of  the  dairy,  she  toils  continually  with 
her  hands  ;  so  that  in  later  life  she  has  to  explain  to  her 
literary  friends  that  her  right  hand  remained  larger 
than  her  left  from  the  labour  of  making  cheese 
and  butter,  and  yet,  though  still  in  her  teens, 
she  finds  time  for  these  varied  intellectual  pur- 
suits !  I  imagine  that  such  an  experience  stands 
quite  alone,  and  is  worthy  of  our  serious  con- 
templation. The  father's  responsibilities  are  ex- 
ceptionally heavy.  Each  day  he  starts  on  his 
business  rounds  in  his  familiar  gig,  his  capable 
daughter  attending  to  the  various  interests  indoors, 
as  her  mother  had  done  before  her.  She  was  able  also 
to  receive  visitors,  for  it  w^as  at  this  period  that  her 
aunt  Dinah  Morris  w^as  brought  hither  from  Wirks- 
worth  by  her  father  for  needed  rest  and  change.  She 
also  finds  time  to  accompany  him  on  some  of  his  busi- 
ness drives,  which  stretched  over  wide  districts  of  the 
surrounding  country.  To  him  she  was  a  dear  com- 
panion and  choice  treasure.  How  he  must  often  have 
wondered  that  his  daughter  should  live  this  high  in- 
tellectual life  amidst  such  surroundings,  to  which  none 
of  his  name,  nor  he  himself  had  ever  before  aspired. 
Some  of  her  biographers  hint  that  she  scarcely  ever 
appears  to  have  been  a  girl  at  all,  but  attained  the 
gravity  and  the  mind  of  a  woman  at  a  surprisingly 
early  age. 

All  this  will  now  prepare  us  to  realise  how  well  she 
was  equipped  to  construct  for  us,  out  of  the  record 
of  her  own  varied  experiences,  the  precise  and  idyllic 
picture  she  has  given  us  of  that  realm  of  sweetness  and 
purity  where  Mrs.  Poyser,  the  dairy  woman,  bears  un- 
questioned rule.  None  but  a  dairywoman  herself 
could  have  pictured  such  a  dairy.     Not  a  member  of 


^     OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

ALL  ABOUTUlES.^,^(gp^  79 

the  family  who  knew  the  original,  or  has  heard  by 
family  tradition  of  her  capable  management ,  her  clock- 
work exactitude,  her  clever  tongue,  her  real  kindness, 
together  with  her  genuine  devotion  as  wife  and 
mother,  would  ever  doubt  as  to  what  person  was  in 
her  mind  when  George  Eliot  drew  her  fascinating  por- 
trait of  Mrs  Poyser.  From  such  relatives  I  have  had 
most  positive  testimony  to  this  effect.  Nevertheless, 
even  here  w^e  must  heed  George  Eliot's  warning  that 
we  are  not  to  look  into  her  work  for  family  portraits. 
The  mother's  life  and  character  as  known  to  the  daugh- 
ter suggested  but  the  mere  skeleton — that  is  all.  And 
yet,  has  it  not  been  said,  and  may  there  not  be  a  good 
deal  of  truth  in  the  saying,  that  biography  is  fiction 
and  fiction  biography?  In  this  case,  though  there  is 
a  considerable  proportion  of  biography  in  our  author's 
work,  yet  the  clever  utterances  of  Mrs.  Poyser  are 
all  the  author's  own.  She  had  no  repertory  of  spark- 
ling witticisms  or  pithy  proverbs  to  be  drawn  upon 
at  pleasure.  Even  those  famous  sayings,  famihar  in 
our  mouths  as  household  words,  came  to  the  author 
while  writing,  fresh  from  her  own  mint.  What  a 
wonderful  mint  that  was,  for  it  has  yielded  a  priceless 
store  of  flashing  humour,  by  the  possession  of  which  the 
literary  world  is  all  the  richer  and  merrier.  "  Steam 
and  progress  have  made  the  world  less  youthful  and 
joyous  than  it  was  then,"  said  the  famous  James 
Nasmyth,  inventor  of  the  steam-hammer,  when  writing 
of  the  days  of  the  Battle  of  Waterloo.  The  Eev.  E.  D. 
Maurice,  preaching  on  the  Christmas  Day  of  1837, 
said  :  **  It  seems  to  me  the  general  opinion  that  people 
are  not  so  merry  on  this  day  as  they  used  to  be."  Of 
our  own  times  all  this  may  be  said  with  greater  em- 
phasis.      In  spite  of  all  our  modern  advantages— the 


80 


THE   TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 


increase  of  knowledge,  the  spread  of  literature,  the 
multiplication  of  the  conveniences  and  comforts  of 
modern  life,  the  outflow  of  w^ealth  and  luxury,  the  vast 
enlargement  of  our  existence  on  this  planet — there 


TOMB    IN    CHILVERS    COTOX    OF    CHRISTIANA    EVANS,    SECOND    WIFE 
OF   ROBERT    EVANS   AND    THE    ORIGINAL    OF    MRS.    POYSER. 


would  seem  to  have  been  rather  a  diminution  than  an 
increase  of  human  cheerfulness.  Mrs.  Poyser  comes  to 
us  with  a  fresh  breeze  of  innocent  merriment  and  a 
pleasant  ripple  of  wholesome  laughter.  She  is  like 
some  of  Dickens'  most  famous  characters — en- 
tirely irresistible,  and  the  world's  grey  sky 
is     brightened      somewhat     by     the      advent    of    a 


ALL   ABOUT   MRS.    POYSER 


81 


literary   portrait    of   such   unquestionable   power   and 
mirth-provoking  charm. 

Sir  Leslie  Stephen  says  that  Mrs.  Poyser  is  among 
the  immortals,  and  one  may  add  that  the  world  is  none 


REVERSE    SIDE    OF    TOMB,    SHOWING    MEMORIAL    OF    ROBERT    EVAN'S 
(ADAM  BEDE). 


the  worse  for  having  so  bright  a  character  enshrined  in 
its  treasured  literature. 

It  is  not  my  purpose  to  quote  a  large  number  cf  her 
famous  sayings,  but  I  must  be  allowed  to  give  some 
of  them  for  the  sake  of  the  lessons  they  convey,  and 
the  facts  of  life  which  they  illustrate.  Under  the  keen , 
incisive  humour  there  is  a  hard  substratum  of  fact,  and 
7 


82       THE   TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT 

often  a  world  of  meaning.  The  inimitable  remon- 
strance with  an  estate  landlord  who,  with  all  his 
studied  politeness,  cannot  be  induced  to  spend  money 
on  the  farm-buildings  to  keep  them  in  decent  repair, 
but  shows  the  readiest  alacrity  in  raising  the  rents  of 
the  tenantry,  may  have  little  application  in  respect  of 
the  realities  of  the  Hall  Farm,  but  too  often  in  the 
relations  of  landlord  and  tenant  that  application  has 
been  all  too  pointedly  and  painfully  true.  The  old 
squire  has  come  to  the  farm-house  to  propose  to  Mr. 
Martin  Poyser  the  surrender  of  the  most  desirable  of 
his  arable  land  to  accommodate  Mr.  Thurle,  to  whom 
he  proposes  to  let  the  adjoining  farm.  Now,  anyone 
acquainted  with  the  processes  of  farming  as  it  was 
under  the  Corn  Laws,  and  who  remembers  the  re- 
strictions imposed  by  landlords  in  tortuous  legal 
agreements,  will  realise  that  the  profit  of  a  farm 
greatly  depended  upon  the  right  balance  between  the 
dairying   and   arable   lands   on   the   holding.  Mrs. 

Poyser  clearly  perceives  that  the  landlord's  proposed 
changes  will  not  only  increase  the  amount  of  labour  in 
her  own  department,  but  will  wrest  from  the  farm 
those  fields  which,  under  Mr.  Poyser' s  careful  tillage, 
yield  wheat  from  w^hich  is  ground  the  flour  that  sup- 
plies their  wholesome  home-made  bread,  oats  from 
which  is  made  the  oat-cake  for  the  kitchen  table, 
where  the  farm-labourers  and  hired  servants  were  fed 
in  those  days,  and  various  corn  for  feeding-stuffs  used 
for  horses,  cattle,  sheep,  pigs,  poultry,  turkeys,  and 
geese.  The  arable  land  also  produced  turnips,  cab- 
bage, and  clover,  which  were  valued  helps  in  feeding 
the  stock,  and  Mrs.  Poyser  is  quick  to  discern  that  the 
change  proposed  by  the  landlord  will  dislocate  every- 
thing on  the  farm,  and  work  to  their  serious  disad-  \ 


ALL   ABOUT   MRS.    POYSER 


83 


vantage.  When  the  landlord  came  to  the  Hall  Farm 
to  submit  his  proposals  to  Mr.  Martin  Poyser  he  ob- 
tained much  more  than  he  bargained  for.  He  first 
walked  the  round  of  the  dairy  and  cheese-room,  ad- 
miring everything  he  saw,  and  bestowing  playful  and 
flattering  compliments  on  Mrs.  Poyser  in  his  progress 


PREMISES    AT    GRIFF    HOUSE,    USED    BY    MRS.    EVAXS     (mRS.    POYSER) 
AS    DAIRY. 


through  the  apartments.  That  lady,  however,  is  in  no 
mood  to  be  flattered.  Now,  Mr.  Poyser,  it  should 
be  said,  is  in  many  respects  an  exceptionally  wise  man, 
as  well  as  a  good  farmer,  for  he  has  a  good  wife,  and 
he  knows  it,  while  there  are  many  equally  good  men 
who  also  have  good  wives  but  do  not  seem  to  know  it, 
which  is  much  to  be  regretted,  and  it  really  makes  a 
great  difference.   Here  is  another  token  of  Mr.  Poyser's 


84       THE   TRUE   STORY  OF   GEORGE   ELIOT  I 

wisdom.  He  has  opinions  of  his  own  which  on  occasion 
he  can  express,  as  we  discover  at  the  birthday  feast, 
slowly  and  deliberately,  but  he  is  frequently  made  to 
realise  that  his  wife  is  a  woman  with  opinions  w^hich 
she  well  knows  how  to  utter  without  any  circumlocu- 
tion whatever.  Hence,  when  a  new  occasion  arises, 
he  is  slow  to  venture  on  expressing  his  own  views 
until  he  has  first  ascertained  what  his  keen-witted  wife 
thinks  about  the  matter.  How  often  have  I  known 
husbands  go  plunging  headlong  into  trouble  from 
which  they  might  have  saved  themselves  had  they  but 
condescended  to  act  on  the  judgment  arrived  at  by  the 
shrewd,  keen  instincts  of  a  sensible  wife,  When,  in 
the  case  before  us,  the  husband,  according  to  his 
custom,  referred  the  landlord's  proposal  to  his  irate 
spouse,  little  did  he  think  of  the  avalanche  which 
would  be  let  loose  on  the  landlord's  devoted  head. 
The  truth  is  Mrs.  Poyser  had  long  been  waiting  for 
the  opportunity  which  had  now  come  to  her,  she  had 
even  prepared  little  speeches  for  the  coveted  occasion, 
and  now  that  it  had  actually  come  she  resolved  to  make 
the  most  of  it.  I  have  known  village  squires  who  were 
very  much  of  the  tone  and  temper  of  Mr.  Donni- 
thorne,  but  the  pity  was  there  was  no  Mrs.  Poyser, 
with  keen  mother  wit,  and  clever,  rasping  tongue,  to 
characterise  their  selfish  dealing  with  their  tenants  in 
a  manner  appropriate  to  the  circumstances.  Let  us  i 
hope  that,  if  the  Mrs.  Poysers  are  rare,  the  landlords  \ 
such  as  she  castigates  are  rare  also.  From  a  lengthy  ■ 
conversation  I  take  for  quotation  Mrs.  Poyser's  biting  : 
speech  in  answer  to  the  landlord's  proposal  for  the 
surrender  of  the  arable  land. 

"Then,  sir,  if  I  may  speak — as,  for  all  I'm  a  woman,  and 


ALL   ABOUT   MRS.    POYSER  85 

there's  folks  as  thinks  a  woman's  fool  enough  to  stan'  by  an* 
look  on  while  the  men  sign  her  soul  away,  I've  a  right  to 
speak,  for  I  make  one  quarter  o'  the  rent,  and  save  another 
quarter — I  say  if  Mr,  Thurle's  so  ready  to  take  farms  under 
you,  it's  a  pity  but  what  he  should  take  this,  and  see  if  he 
likes  to  live  in  a  house  wi'  all  the  plagues  o'  Egypt  in't^ — wi' 
the  cellar  full  o'  water,  and  frogs  and  toads  hoppin'  up  the 
steps  by  dozens — and  the  floors  rotten,  and  the  rats  and  mice 
gnawing  every  bit  o'  cheese,  and  runnin'  over  our  heads  as  we 
lie  i'  bed  till  we  expect  'em  to  eat  us  up  alive — as  it's  a  mercy 
they  hanna  eat  the  children  long  ago.  I  should  like  to  see  if 
there's  another  tenant  besides  Poyser  as  'ud  put  up  wi'  never 
having  a  bit  o'  repairs  done  till  a  place  tumbles  down — and  not 
then,  on'y  wi'  begging  and  praying,  and  having  to  pay  half — 
and  being  strung  up  wi'  the  rent  as  it's  much  if  he  gets 
enough  out  o'  the  land  to  pay,  for  all  he's  put  his  own  money 
into  the  ground  beforehand.  See  if  you'll  get  a  stranger  to 
lead  such  a  life  here  as  that :  a  maggot  must  be  born  i' 
rotten  cheese  to  like  it,  I  reckon.  You  may  run  away  from 
my  words,  sir,"  continued  Mrs.  Poyser,  following  the  old 
Squire  beyond  the  door — for  after  the  first  moments  of  stunned 
surprise  he  had  got  up,  and,  waving  his  hand  towards  her  with 
a  smile,  had  walked  out  towards  his  pony.  But  it  was  im- 
possible for  him  to  get  away  immediately,  for  John  was  walk- 
ing the  pony  up  and  down  the  yard,  and  was  some  distance 
from  the  causeway  when  his  master  beckoned. 

"You  may  run  away  from  my  words,  sir,  and  you  may  go 
spinnin'  underhand  ways  o'  doing  us  a  mischief,  for  you've 
got  Old  Harry  to  your  friend,  though  nobody  else  is,  but  I 
tell  you  for  once  as  we're  not  dumb  creatures  to  be  abused  and 
made  money  on  by  them  as  ha'  got  the  lash  i'  their  hands,  for 
want  o'  knowing  how  t'  undo  the  tackle.  An'  if  I'm  the  only 
one  as  speaks  my  mind  there's  plenty  o'  th'  same  way  o'  think- 
ing i'  this  parish  and  the  next  to't,for  your  name's  no  better  than 
a  brimstone  match  in  everybody's  nose — if  it  isna  two-three  old 
folks  as  you  think  o'  saving  your  soul  by  giving  'em  a  bit  o' 
flannel  and  a  drop  o'  porridge.  An'  you  may  be  right  i'  think- 
ing it'll  take  but  little  to  save  your  soul,  for  it'll  be  the 
smallest  savin'  y'  iver  made,  wi'  all  your  scrapin'." 

This  pungent  remonstrance  by  Mrs.  Poyser  was  not 
made  more  delectable  to  the  old  squire  from  the  con- 


86       THE   TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT 

sideration  that  Molly  and  Nancy  and  Tim  were 
grinning  in  front  of  him,  and  that  probably  old  John 
the  groom  was  grinning  behind  him.  He  rides  away 
from  the  farm  with  the  ringing  sarcasms  of  the 
farmer's  wife  resounding  in  his  ears;  w^hile  she,  re- 


4 


^ARM 


BUILDINGS,    GRIFF    HOUSE. 


lieved  in  mind  because  of  her  fierce  discharge  of  fire- 
works, returns  to  the  house  to  rejoin  her  husband.  It 
is  in  the  very  blood  of  the  country-bred  farmer  to  have 
a  reverent  fear  of  his  landlord,  and  it  is  not  to  be 
wondered  at  that  Mr.  Poyser  should  feel  alarmed  and 
uneasy  as  to  the  consequences  which  would  most  likely 
follow    from    Mrs.    Poyser's   caustic   and   unmerciful 


ALL   ABOUT   MRS.    POYSER  87 

attack  on  the  old  squire.  He  expresses  his  appre- 
hensions and  uneasiness  in  the  laconic  sentence  : 
"  Thee'st  done  it  now  !"     To  this  Mrs.  Poyser  replies  : 

''  Yes,  I  know  I've  done  it;  but  I've  had  my  say  out,  and  I 
shall  be  the  easier  for't  all  my  life.  There's  no  pleasure  i' 
living,  if  you're  to  be  corked  up  for  ever,  and  only  dribble  your 
mind  out  by  the  sly,  like  a  leaky  barrel.  I  shan't  repent  say- 
ing what  I  think,  if  I  live  to  be  as  old  as  th'  Squire ;  and 
there's  little  likelihoods — for  it  seems  as  if  them  as  aren't 
wanted  here  are  th'  only  folks  as  aren't  wanted  i'  th'  other 
world." 

The  old  home  at  Griff,  fair  and  pleasant  to  look  upon, 
is  likely  to  remain,  as  all  would  wish  it  to  re- 
main, a  lively  scene  of  dairying  work  for  many  years 
to  come ;  for  it  is  now  a  County  Council  Dairy  School , 
and  many  young  maidens  go  there  regularly  to  learn 
the  art  and  mystery  of  dairy  operations  on  those  same 
premises  with  w^hich  the  memory  of  Mrs.  Poyser  is  in- 
dissolubly  linked,  and  where  the  immortal  George 
Eliot  was  also  a  skilful  maker  of  fine  Leicester  cheese 
and  sweet,  w^holesome  butter. 


CHAPTEK    VI 

HAYTIME   AT   THE   HALL   FAEM   AND   THE 
HARVEST   SUPPER 

"  The  morn  was  blithe  and  gay, 
And  the  fields   flower-foam ; 
'Tis  the  end  of  the  day, 

And  the  last  load  home." — Tennyson. 

Perhaps  no  one  ever  wrought  in  literature  with  a 
heavier  sense  of  responsibihty  than  George  EHot. 
There  was  no  haste,  no  slap-dash,  no  straining  after 
effect.  Everything  was  carefully  considered,  arranged 
in  orderly  manner,  well  digested,  natural,  and  well- 
expressed.  Every  book  had  its  message,  and  every 
scene  described  was  duly  adjusted  to  the  reality.  At 
the  back  of  all  fiction  which  is  w^orth  the  writing,  there 
lie  the  awful  realities  of  human  life.  A  great  writer 
of  fiction  has  the  seer's  gift,  can  penetrate  beneath  the 
surface  of  things,  can  divine  motives  and  portray  char- 
acter. He  has  also  the  dramatic  faculty,  he  has  wit, 
humour  and  pathos,  he  is  the  skilled  interpreter  of 
character  and  life.  The  function  of  the  novelist,  in 
its  highest  sense,  is  one  of  the  greatest.  It  is  to  her 
honour  that  George  Eliot  accepted  her  astonishing 
gifts  in  the  consciousness  of  the  solemn  responsibility 
they  entailed  upon  her.  She  took  her  calling  serious- 
ly, always  distrusting  herself,  always  desponding  of  the 

88 


HAYTIME   AT   THE   HALL   FARM  89 

future,  always  doubting  her  power  to  accomplish  any- 
thing until  it  was  done.  Her  conscientiousness  in  the 
discharge  of  her  high  calling  is  conspicuous  in  all  her 
works.  Accuracy  of  perception,  faithfulness  in  de- 
lineation, the  demand  for  a  picture  true  in  all  its  de- 
tails, were  considerations  ever  present  to  her  thoughts. 
To  secure  these  things  she  spared  herself  no  pains, 
shrank  from  no  enquiry,  and  ransacked  every  available 
source  of  information.  I  think  her  most  laboured 
book  was  Romola.  This  lay  outside  her  ow^n  experi- 
ences. To  qualify  herself  for  the  task  of  writing  it 
she  made  a  special  tour  to  Florence,  explored  its  archi- 
tecture, ransacked  its  libraries,  searched  its  picture  gal- 
leries, hunted  up  old  books  at  shops  and  stalls,  making 
notes  to  guide  her  pen  in  what  is  undoubtedly  one  of 
the  greatest  historical  fictions.  The  same  conscien- 
tious care  was  shewn  in  the  rendering  of  the  legal  bear- 
ings of  the  Transome  estates  in  Felix  Holt,  as  related 
to  her  story  in  that  book.  For  the  sake  of  accuracy  in 
this  matter  she  took  the  opinion  of  an  able  barrister. 
Such  scrupulous  caution  is  manifest  in  all  her  work. 
Test  it  anywhere,  and  you  wdll  find  that  her  delinea- 
tions accord  well  with  the  local  customs,  manners, 
habits  and  folk-lore  of  the  people  or  places  of  whom  she 
writes. 

Farm  life  has  never  been  so  vividly  depicted  as  by 
George  Eliot,  and  the  life  of  the  country  in  general— 
the  village  life  of  England — has  never  been  so  fully 
portrayed.  The  poet  Crabbe,  in  an  earlier  generation, 
and  with  much  minuteness  of  detail,  had  given  a  series 
of  pictures  of  rural  life  as  he  saw  it  in  his  day, 
but  George  Eliot  is  par  excellence  the  true  de- 
lineator of  country  life  as  she  saw  it,  and  in 
this   walk  of   literature   has    found    no    equal.      The 


90       THE   TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT 

late  Lord  Acton  said  of  her  :  ' '  No  writer  ever  lived 
who  had  anything  like  her  power  of  manifold,  but  dis- 
interested and  impartial  sympathy.  If  Sophocles  or 
Cervantes  had  lived  in  the  light  of  our  culture,  if 
Dante  had  prospered  like  Manzoni,  George  Eliot  might 
have  had  a  rival.  George  Eliot  seemed  to  me  capable 
not  only  of  reading  the  diverse  hearts  of  men,  but  of 
creeping  into  their  skin,  watching  the  world  through 
their  eyes,  feeling  their  latent  back-ground  of  convic- 
tion, discerning  theory  and  habit,  influence  of  thought 
and  knowledge,  of  life  and  descent,  and  having  ob- 
tained this  experience,  recovering  her  indepen- 
dence, stripping  off  the  borrowed  shell,  and  exposing 
scientifically  and  indifferently  the  soul  of  a  Vestal  or 
Crusader,  an  Anabaptist,  an  Inquisitor,  a  Dervish,  a 
Nihihst,  or  a  Cavalier,  without  attraction,  preference, 
or  caricature."      This  witness  is  true. 

Another  great  gift  she  had  was  sympathy  with  the 
toiling,  struggling  multitude.  It  is  this  gift  joined  to 
those  so  eloquently  portrayed  by  Lord  Acton  which 
lends  such  pathos  to  her  work,  a  quality  which 
has  been  felt  by  all  who  have  read  Adam  Bede, 
The  Mill  on  the  Floss,  or  Silas  Marner,  not  to 
mention  others  of  her  books.  She  shews  us,  as  no 
other  writer  has  done,  what  tragedy,  pathos  and  hu- 
mour may  be  lying  in  the  experience  of  a  human  soul 
"  that  looks  out  through  dull  grey  eyes,  and  that 
speaks  in  a  voice  of  quite  ordinary  tones."  George 
Eliot  in  some  of  her  essays  had  taught  that  reformers 
must  needs  familiarise  the  imagination  with  the  real 
condition  of  the  people,  their  wants,  their  trials  ami 
their  sufferings.  These  are  precisely  the  qualities 
exhibited  in  George  Eliot's  novels.  She  was  endowed 
with  an  extraordinary  power  of  portraying  the  wants 


HAYTIME   AT   THE   HALL   FARM 


91 


the  miseries,  and  the  aspirations  of  the  comaxion  people. 
When  such  powers  are  turned  upon  the  small  commu- 
nity in  a  country  place  like  Hayslope,  there  is  no  won- 
der that  a  picture  is  drawn  which  has  already  become 
immortal.      No  part  of  the  country  changes  so  slowly 


THE    SAWMILL    AND    BUILDER  S    YARD   AT    NORBURY. 

This  business  has  been  developed  from  that  started  by  Robert  Evans  (Adam  Bade) 
at  Ellastone  (Hayslope). 


as  does  your  rural  Hayslope.  But,  stationary  as  such 
places  are,  as  compared  with  other  districts,  even 
there  many  things  are  different  from  what  they  were 
in  the  days  of  Parson  Irwine  and  Mrs.  Poyser.  The 
incoming  of  railways  has  changed  most  things.  Milk 
goes  largely  to  the  great  tow^ns  now  instead  of  being 
converted  into  cheese  and  butter  as  it  used  to  be  before 


92       THE   TRUE   STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

leaving  the  farm  premises.  The  growth  of  the  great 
towns,  and  the  spread  of  manufactures  and  commercial 
industry,  have  attracted  the  labourers  from  the  country 
villages  to  crowd  the  urban  centres.  Our  Hay  slope 
farmers  would  be  badly  off  indeed  if  work  had  to  be 
done  in  the  fashion  prevailing  in  the  times  of  Martin 
Poyser. 

Let  us  first  see  how  accurate  is  George  Eliot's 
picture  of  the  appointments  of  a  farm-house  as  it  was 
in  these  olden  times.  In  Chapter  XIX.  of  Adam 
Bede  we  see  Mrs.  Poyser  laying  the  cloth  for  supper. 
'  *  A  cloth  made  of  home-spun  linen — none  of  your 
bleached  shop-rag,  but  good  home-spun  that  w^ould  last 
for  two  generations."  A  modern  reader  would  not 
be  likely  to  discern  the  reality  that  lurks  in  an  utter- 
ance like  that.  The  same  remark  applies  to  sundry 
references  in  the  Mill  on  the  Floss.  Poor  Mrs.  Tulli- 
ver,  after  the  unfortunate  law-suit,  is  looking  over  her 
store  of  linen  cloths,  which  must  now  be  sold  from 
the  family  to  help  to  pay  her  husband's  debts,  she  is 
bemoaning  her  sad  fate  in  conversation  with  her  son 
Tom,  and  ruefully  says  :  **  To  think  o'  these  cloths  as 
I  spun  myself,  and  Job  Haxey  wove  'em."  Later  on 
Mrs.  Tulliver's  sister,  Mrs.  Pullet,  contemplates  part- 
ing with  some  of  her  fondly  cherished  linen  to  appear 
on  the  tables  at  Dorlcote  Mill,  when  young  Tom  Tulli- 
ver  has  won  the  place  back  for  the  family,  and  says  to 
Mrs.  Tulliver,  his  mother:  "It's  poor  work  dividing 
one's  linen  before  one  dies.  I  niver  thought  to  have  | 
done  that,  Bessy,  when  you  and  me  chose  the  double 
diamont,  the  first  flax  iver  we'd  spun,  and  the  Lord 
knows  where  yours  is  gone."  Behind  these  stray  re- 
ferences there  is  a  world  of  meaning  to  one  who  re- 
members country  life  more  than  sixty  years  ago.      The 


HAYTIME    AT   THE   HALL   FARM  93 

spinning  wheel  was  an  institution  in  every  farm-house. 
My  mother  did  not  use  it  because  factories  had  grown' 
up,  and  sheets,  blankets,  counterpanes,  and  even 
worsted  for  our  stockings  was  already  being  pro- 
duced by  machinery,  and  so  the  spinning  wheel 
and  cottage  hand  loom  were  fast  disappearing 
when  I  was  a  boy.  Nevertheless,  the  worsted 
was  still  spun  by  my  aged  grandmother,  who  thought 
the  times  were  becoming  degenerate  because  the 
younger  women  did  not  now  sit  at  the  spinning  wheel 
as  their  elders  had  done  before  them.  In  my 
own  case,  the  bed-tick  on  which  I  slept,  the  blankets, 
sheets  and  counterpane  which  covered  me,  and  the 
tester  head-piece  and  curtains  which  closed  me  in  all 
around  at  night,  as  though  shut  up  in  a  tent,  were  all 
hand-spun  and  hand-woven.  The  village  weaver  was 
an  institution  in  those  days.  In  the  farm  houses  the 
busy  spinning  wheel  made  its  merry  racket  each  day, 
and  the  yarns  so  spun  were  wrought  into  cloths  by  the 
cottage  weaver.  So  true  to  life  are  these  references 
in  our  author's  fictions.  In  Adam  Bede  we  read  of 
the  "bright  pewter  plates  and  spoons  and  cans,"  in 
Mrs.  Po3^ser's  kitchen.  Here  is  another  true  touch 
of  the  literary  artist.  How  well  I  remember  the  old 
oaken  dresser  in  many  a  farm-house.  There  you  would 
see  whole  dinner  services  in  bright  pewter.  Even  after 
Staffordshire  earthenware  had  taken  the  place  of  the 
shiny  pewter  for  all  ordinary  use,  you  would  see  care- 
fully preserved  on  the  dresser  shelves  the  graded  sizes 
of  pewter  dishes  to  hold  the  joints  of  meat,  and  the 
soup  plates  and  shallow  plates  for  the  use  of  the  guests 
and  the  family  at  table.  I  have  partaken  of  many  a 
fine  joint  of  beef  served  to  the  table  upon  a  huge  pew- 
ter dish  in  the  times  of  old.      I  have  a  tender  place  in 


94   THE  TRUE  STORY  OF  .GEORGE  ELIOT 

my  memory  for  the  ancient  dresser  and  its  polished 
array  of  radiant  pewter. 

There  is  another  historic  touch  which  tells  of 
things  as  they  were  long  ago.  In  Adam  Bede, 
Chapter  XIX.  we  are  told  of  hay  time  at  the  hall  farm, 
and  we  read  that  "  the  master  and  servants  ate  their 
supper  not  far  off  each  other.'''  There  was  much 
more  of  such  communism  in  those  times  than  obtains 
to-day.  The  workers  frequently  took  their  rations  at 
the  farmer's  table.  In  nothing  is  there  a  more  marked 
change  than  in  the  various  processes  of  the  harvest- 
fields.  I  sometimes  think  that  the  greater  portion  of 
the  romance  of  the  haymaking  has  disappeared.  It 
is  very  marked  in  Adam  Bede.  Here  is  a  picture  of 
an  annual  reality  as  it  relates  to  the  hayfield.  "  All 
hands  were  to  be  out  in  the  meadow  as  soon  as  the 
dew  had  risen ;  the  wives  and  daughters  did  double 
work  in  every  farm-house  that  the  maids  might  give 
their  help  in  tossing  the  hay ;  and  w^hen  Adam  was 
marching  along  the  lanes  with  his  basket  of  tools  over 
his  shoulder,  he  caught  the  sound  of  jocose  talk  and 
ringing  laughter  from  behind  the  hedges."  There 
are  some  fine  touches  in  this  picture  and  the  whole  de- 
scription is  true  to  life.  The  hay-making:  was  a  time 
of  most  genuine  enthusiasm  and  merry-heartedness. 
Our  author  tells  us  that  men's  muscles  move  better 
when  their  souls  are  making  merry  music,  and  that 
their  merriment  mingles  prettily  with  other  joyous 
sounds  of  nature.  Machinery  has  modified  all  this 
very  considerably.  And,  doubtless,  it  is  well;  for 
with  the  exodus  to  the  towns  of  so  much  of  the  bone 
and  muscle  of  the  country  districts,  our  harvests  could 
not  be  garnered  now  without  resort  to  machinery.  Yet 
with  what  pleasantness  do  I  recall  the  recollections  of 


HAYTIME   AT   THE   HALL   FARM  95 

hay-time  when  I  was  a  boy.  How  well  I  remember 
seeing  my  own  father,  the  leader  of  seven  mowers,  in 
one  of  our  fine  meadows,  when  probably  I  would  be 
six  years  old.  All  kept  time  in  their  swathes,  stroke 
by  stroke,  the  sw^ish  and  rhythm  of  the  sweeps  were 
pleasant  to  listen  to,  and  have  left  their  distinct  mem- 
ory after  all  these  years.  I  suppose  there  is  music  in 
the  click  of  the  mowing  machine,  but  it  can  never  be  so 
romantic  to  me  as  the  sound  of  seven  mowers  all  at 
once  slMcrpening  their  scythes,  and  then,  in  unison, 
cutting  dt5ii\^n  the  grass.  A  gang  of  tedders  would  fol- 
low the  mow^ers,  and  what  with  the  succeeding  pro- 
cesses of  turning,  breakinfr.  rowing,  making  into  cocks 
and  shaking  out  again,  the  grass  had  no  rest  until  it 
was  converted  into  sweet-smelling  hay.  Then  the 
barns  were  filled  and  the  stacks  rose  high  amid  much 
rejoicing.  The  joy  of  hay-making  would  sometimes 
be  interrupted  by  spells  of  showery  weather,  which 
diminished  the  value  of  the  product  and  increased  the 
cost  of  gathering  it  in. 

In  the  twentieth  chapter  of  Adam  Bede  there  is  a 
lively  picture  of  an  evening  visit  to  the  Hall 
Farm  by  Adam  in  the  hay- time,  his  heart  full  of 
projects  foi  the  future  when  his  life  is  blent  in 
matrimony,  as  he  hopes  it  will  be  one  day,  with 
the  life  of  Hetty  Sorrell.  The  house  is  deserted 
it  seems,  for  Mrs.  Poyser  is  in  the  dairy  where  she  and 
Nancy  are  crushing  the  curd  of  the  first  evening 
cheese,  while  Hetty  and  Totty  are  in  the  garden 
gathering  currants.  Soon  the  hay-makers  return  from 
the  meadow^  and  the  "house-place"  is  no  longer  si- 
lent. Nothing  in  Adam  Bede  is  more  true  to  life  than 
the  scene  here  depicted.  The  supper  is  laid,  and 
Molly  goes  down  to  draw  beer  for  the  thirsty  harvest- 


96       THE   TRUE   STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

ers,  and  after  a  while  reappears  "  carrying  a  large  jug, 
two  small  mugs,  and  four  drinking  cans."  The  sight 
of  the  girl  so  laden  elicited  a  sharp  reproof  from  Mrs. 


GRAVESTONE    IN    NORUURY    CHURCHYARD    OF   SAMUEL    GREEN, 
SON-IN-LAW    OF   GEORGE    EVANS   (tHIAS    BEDE). 

Poyser,  which,  joined  to  the  loud  reverberations  of 
thunder  and  the  accidental  loosening  of  Molly's  apron, 
caused  a  sad  fall,  and  the  poor  girl  lay  sprawling  in  a 
pool  of  beer.  Now  a  much  more  severe  scolding 
from    the    mistress    falls    upon    her    dull    ears,    and 


HAYTIME    AT   THE   HALL   FARM  97 

Molly  begins  to  cry,  as  Mrs.  Poyser  bewails  her  pre- 
cious crockery  and  scolds  Molly  for  her  awkwardness. 
'^  Ah,"  she  says,  "  you'll  do  no  good  crying  and  mak- 
ing more  wet  to  wipe  up.  It's  all  your  own  wilful- 
ness, as  I  tell  you,  for  there's  no  call  to  break  any- 
thing if  they'll  only  go  the  right  w^ay  to  work.  But 
wooden  folks  had  need  ha'  w^ooden  things  to  handle. 
And  here  must  I  take  the  brown  and  white  jug,  as  it's 
niver  been  used  three  times  this  year,  and  go  down  i' 
the  cellar  myself,  and  belike  catch  my  death  and  be 
laid  up  with  inflammation."  As  she  lays  hands  on 
that  precious  jug  a  shock  is  administered  to  Mrs.  Poy- 
ser, her  jug  falls  to  the  ground  minus  spout  and  handle. 
And  now^  we  see  in  the  smart  sophistry  of  Mrs.  Poy- 
ser, how^  our  judgment  of  accidents  may  be  varied  by 
the  consideration  as  to  whether  they  happen  to  our- 
selves or  to  other  people.  We  saw  where  the  fault  lay 
when  poor  wooden  Molly  broke  the  pitcher — how  quick- 
ly the  judgment  is  varied  now  that  Mrs.  Poyser  has 
sustained  a  similar  mishap.  "  Did  ever  anybody  see 
the  like?"  she  says.  "  The  jugs  are  bewitched,  I 
think.  It's  them  nasty  glazed  handles,  they  slip  o'er 
the  finger  like  a  snail." 

"  Why  thee'st  let  thy  own  whip  fly  i'  thy  face,"  said 
Mr.  Poyser. 

"It's  all  very  fine  to  look  on  and  grin,"  rejoined 
Mrs.  Poyser,  "but  there's  times  when  the  crockery 
seems  alive  and  flies  out  o'  your  hand  like  a  bird.  It's 
like  the  glass,  sometimes,  'ull  crack  as  it  stands.  What 
is  to  be  broke  will  be  broke,  for  I  niver  dropped  a  thing 
i'  my  life  for  want  o'  holding  it,  else  I  should  never 
ha'  kept  the  crockery  all  these  years  as  I  bought  at  my 
wedding."  ]Mrs.  Poyser  has  ceased  to  scold  poor 
Molly,  she  exhibits  no  consciousness  of  her  undue  cen- 
8 


98       THE    TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

sure  in  respect  of  the  servant,  and  her  indulgent  par- 
tiahty  in  her  judgment  on  herself.  Hetty  appears  on 
the  scene  and  makes  a  diversion,  raising  a  merry  laugh 
in  which  all  heartily  join  save  Mrs.  Poyser,  who,  under 
cover  of  the  prevailing  amusement,  glides  out  into  the 
back  kitchen  to  send  Nancy  into  the  cellar  with  the 
great  pewter  measure ,  which  had  some  chance  of  being 
free  from  bewitchment.  The  ale  soon  appears  on  the 
table  and  Adam  Bede  has  to  give  his  opinion  of  the 
new  tap,  which,  we  are  told,  could  not  be  otherwise 
than  complimentary  to  Mrs.  Poyser.  Here  we  have 
indicated  another  custom  of  the  olden  time — the  far- 
mers brewing  their  own  ale  for  the  harvest  season,  in- 
stead of  ordering  it  from  the  brewer.  The  whole 
scene  is  full  of  suggestion.  It  is  electric  at  every  point. 
Nothing  seems  wanting  to  the  perfect  picture.  Three 
things  are  conspicuous  in  it.  There  is  first  a  wonder- 
fully comprehensive  presentation  of  farm  life  in  the 
days  of  Adam  Bede  ;  there  is  a  scene  charged  full  to 
the  brim  with  piquant  humour,  and  there  is  a  moral 
lesson  we  all  of  us  need  to  learn. 

Later  on  in  the  story  of  Adam  Bede  we  find  a 
graphic  description  of  a  harvest  supper.  The  Harvest 
Home  is  an  old  institution  in  the  days  of  merry  Eng- 
land. I  do  not  think  it  is  so  common  as  it  used  to  be. 
Probably  the  custom  of  a  harvest  thanksgiving  service 
at  the  church  has  taken  the  place  largely  of  the  old 
Harvest  Home  at  each  separate  farm.  The  ancient 
institution  had  about  it  an  air  of  great  familiarity  : 
for  the  time  distinctions  were  levelled,  employer  and 
employed  feasted  together  and  all  were  merry  in  com- 
mon joy.  The  last  load  from  the  harvest  fields  was 
brought  to  the  stack-yard  in  triumph,  there  was  even 
some  ceremony  in  its  progress  with  minstrelsy  and 


HAYTIME   AT   THE   HALL   FARM  99 

(lancing.  In  the  evening  the  harvest  supper  is  laid, 
the  farmer,  his  family  and  friends  all  gather  at  thc' 
table,  while  a  place  is  found  for  everyone  who  has  con- 
tributed to  the  harvest  toil. 

"  Well  on,  brave  boys,  to  your  lord's  hearth 
Glitt'ring  with  fire,  where,  for  your  mirth. 
You  shall  see  first  the  lord  and  cheefe 
Foundation  of  your  feast,  fat  beefe : 
With  upper  stories,  mutton,  veale, 
And  bacon,  which  makes  full  the  meale, 
AVith  sev'ral  dishes  standing  by, 
As  here  a  custard,  there  a  pie. 
And  there  all  tempting  frumentie. 
And  for  to  make  the  merrie  cheere 
If  smirking  wine  be  wanting  here 
There's  that  which  drowns  all  care — strong  beere." 

All  this  is  true,  and  much  more  also,  in  respect  of 
the  Harvest  Home  supper  described  in  the  fifty-third 
chapter  of  Adam  Bede.  With  our  modern  experiences 
we  may  question  the  virtues  of  strong  "  beere,"  but 
the  poet  wrote  in  days  of  long  ago.  Our  hero,  as  he 
was  going  homewards  after  a  day's  honest  toil,  hears 
the  Harvest  Home  chant  rising  and  sinking  like  a 
wave.  The  evening  is  beautiful,  the  sun  is  declining 
to  the  west,  and  Adam  falls  to  moralising  thus  :  "  It's 
wonderful  how  that  sound  goes  to  one's  heart,  almost 
like  a  funeral  bell,  for  all  it  tells  of  the  joyfullest  time 
of  the  year,  and  the  time  when  men  are  mostly  the 
thankfullest.  I  suppose  it's  a  bit  hard  to  think  any- 
thing's  over  and  gone  in  our  lives,  and  there's  a  parting 
at  the  root  of  all  our  joys." 

When  Adam  reaches  the  Hall  Farm  the  supper  has 
commenced,  but  a  place  has  been  kept  for  him  as  an 
expected  guest.  His  old  schoolmaster,  too,  Bartle  Mas- 
sey,  is  there,  and  Mr.  Craig  as  well.       The  labourers. 


100     THE   TRUE   STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

too,  are  honoured  guests  along  with  these  friendly 
neighbours.  For  once  they  have  a  recognised  place  of 
equality  and  friendship  with  those  above  them  in  the 
social  scale,  and  they  are  prepared  to  enjoy  their  feast 
to  the  full.  One  of  the  noblest  passages  the  hand  of 
George  Eliot  ever  penned  occurs  in  her  description  of 
the  company  at  this  feast.  She  tells  of  one  of  the 
farm  workmen  who  had  begun  his  career  on  the  farm 
as  a  boy  by  scaring  birds,  and  had  grown  old  in  its 
service.  After  her  sketch  of  the  old  thatcher's  pecu- 
liarities she  writes  :  "I  am  not  ashamed  of  com- 
memorating old  Kester ;  you  and  I  are  indebted  to  the 
hard  hands  of  such  men— hands  that  have  long  ago 
mingled  with  the  soil  they  tilled  so  faithfully,  thriftily 
making  the  best  they  could  of  the  earth's  fruits,  and 
receiving  the  smallest  share  as  their  own  wages." 
This  sentence  is  characteristic  of  George  Eliot.  She 
looks  into  the  soul  of  things  and  in  her  ^eart  keenly 
realises  the  noble  services  and  hard  lot  of  the  toilers 
among  the  poor.  The  bountiful  supper  is  despatched, 
the  cloth  is  removed,  and  then  our  author  lets  us  see 
the  bacchanalian  part  of  the  proceedings.  She  evi- 
dently thinks  this  portion  of  the  feast  open  to  serious 
objection,  but  then  she  interjects  the  thought  that  we 
have  no  power  to  reform  our  forefathers.  The  harvest 
supper  comes  down  to  us  from  time  immemorial,  and 
the  song  for  such  occasions  is  also  ancient.  There  are 
several  versions  extant.  Of  the  one  employed  at  the 
Hall  Farm  feast  George  Eliot  gives  us  three  stanzas. 
There  is  not  much  to  be  said  for  the  poetry  or  the 
rhyme.  Probably  that  did  not  matter.  There  was,  at 
least  for  the  time  being,  a  considerable  amount  of  good 
feeling.  The  harvest  song,  we  are  told,  was  sung 
"  decidedly  forte  "  : 


HAYTIME   AT   THE   HALL   FARM  101 

Here's  a  health  unto  our  master, 

The  founder  of  the  feast ; 
Here's  a  health  unto  our  master  / 

And  to  our  mistress  !  ; 

When  the  chorus  is  reached  after  the  third  quatrain, 
the  shepherd's  can  is  filled  with  ale,  and  he  must 
empty  it  without  spilling  before  the  chorus  has  ceased, 
under  the  penalty  of  drinking  a  second  portion.  The 
same  process  is  gone  through  with  each  worker  in  turn, 
and  we  are  told  that  one  of  them  spilled  a  portion  of 
his  allowance  in  order  that  there  might  be  inflicted  up- 
on him  the  penalty  of  imbibing  a  second.  The  chorus 
reads  thus  : 

Then   drink,   boys,    drink ! 

And  see  ye  do  not  spill, 
For  if  ye  do,  ye  shall  drink  two, 

For  'tis  your  master's  will. 

I  have  found  elsewhere  a  somewhat  better  version  of 
the  old  harvest  song,  which  runs  as  follows  : 

Here's  a  health  to  our  master, 

The  lord  of  the  feast ; 
God  bless  his  endeavours, 

And  send  him  increase  ! 
May  prosper  his  crops,  boys. 

And  we  reap  next  year ; 
Here's  our  master's  good  health,  boys. 

Come,  drink  off  your  beer  ! 
Now  harvest  is  ended, 

And  supper  is  past ; 
Here's  our  mistress's  health,  boys. 

Come,  drink  a  full  glass. 
For  she's  a  good  woman, 

Provides  us  good  cheer, 
Here's  your  mistress's  good  health,  boys, 

Come,    drink    off    your    beer. 

In  some  future  generation  the  historical  antiquary 
will  find  in  Adam  Bede  a  repertory  of  information  on 


102      THE    TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT  I 

the  manners  and  customs  of  village  life  in  the  early 
years  of  the  nineteenth  century,  which  will  stand  him 
in  good  stead.  He  will  there  find  a  faithful  record  of 
a  condition  of  things  which  has  already  passed  away. 
He  wall  discover  that  no  painter  or  poet,  no  ballad- 
maker  nor  historian  has  left  on  record  so  complete  and 
life-like  a  picture  as  the  writer  of  this  story.  I  have 
read  it  many  times  over,  alw^ays  with  deepening  won- 
der at  its  comprehensiveness,  minuteness,  freshness 
and  force.  When  I  consider  for  a  moment  how  I 
should  have  fared  with  such  a  task,  I  am  astonished 
beyond  measure  at  the  power  of  a  mind  which  could 
follow  out  into  so  much  detail,  with  such  unfaiUng 
accuracy,  the  drama  of  daily  life  in  a  village  com- 
munity and  invest  the  common-place,  humdrum  exis- 
tence of  men  and  women  there,  with  such  undying 
charm,  and  unflagging  interest.  It  is  only  the  loftiest 
genius  which  could  perform  such  a  miracle.  It  is, 
perhaps,  not  particularly  edifying  to  read  of 
the  roystering  festivities  of  the  harvest  sup- 
per. Bartle  Massey  retires  from  the  room 
during  the  loud,  musical  chorus,  lest  the  un- 
harmonious  shout  should  split  his  ears.  But  even  that 
supper,  ordinary  as  it  may  appear,  has  associated  with 
it  outbursts  of  satire,  wit,  pleasantry  and  humour 
which  would  render  any  conceivable  scene  immortal. 
There  is  one  rencontre  on  this  memorable  occasion,  be-  I 
tween  Bartle  Massey  and  Mrs.  Poyser,  recording  corus- 
cations of  wit,  which  cannot  but  astonish  and  delight 
the  most  stolid  reader.  Here,  it  is  diamond  cut  dia- 
mond, but  at  least  one  may  say  that  Mrs.  Poyser  does 
not  come  off  second  best.  Bartle  Massey,  the  caustic 
critic  of  women,  has  for  a  wonder  been  saying  some- 
thing rather  kindly  of  one  exceptional  woman— Dinah  i 


HAYTIME    AT   THE   HALL   FARM  103 

Morris,  and  this  is  how  he  excuses  himself  for  this 
amiable  weakness  :  "I  meant  her  voice,  man — I  meant 
her  voice,  that  was  all,  I  can  bear  to  hear  her  speak 
without  w^anting  to  put  wool  in  my  ears.  As  for  other 
things,  I  daresay  she's  like  the  rest  of  the  women, 
thinks  two  and  two  'ull  come  to  make  five,  if  she 
cries  and  bothers  enough  about  it." 

"  Ay,  ay  "  !  said  Mrs.  Poyser  "  one  'ud  think,  an' 
hear  some  folks  talk,  as  the  men  war  cute  enough  to 
count  the  corns  in  a  bag  o'  w^heat  wi'  only  smelling  at 
it.  They  can  see  through  a  barn  door,  they  can.  Per- 
haps that's  the  reason  they  can  see  so  little  o'  this  side 
on't." 

"Ah!"  said  Bartle,  sneeringly,  "the  women  are 
quick  enough,  they're  quick  enough.  They  know  the 
rights  of  a  story  before  they  hear  it,  and  can  tell  a  man 
what  his  thoughts  are  before  he  knows  'em  himself." 

"Like  enough,"  said  Mrs.  Poyser,  "for  the  men 
are  mostly  so  slow  their  thoughts  o' err  an  'em,  an'  they 
can  only  catch  'em  by  the  tail.  I  can  count  a  stocking 
top  while  a  man  gets  his  tongue  ready,  an'  when  he 
oats  wi'  his  speech  at  last,  there's  little  broth  to  be 
made    on't.  It's    dead    chicks    take    the    longest 

hatching.  Howiver,  I'm  not  denying  the  women  are 
foohsh  :  God  Almighty  made  'em  to  match  the  men." 

"Match!"  said  Bartle,  "ay,  as  vinegar  matches 
one's  teeth.  If  a  man  says  a  word  his  wife '11  match 
it  with  a  contradiction,  if  he's  a  mind  for  hot  meat  his 
wife'll  match  it  with  cold  bacon,  if  he  laughs  she'll 
match  him  with  whimpering.  She's  such  a  match  as 
the  horse-fly  is  to  the  horse,  she's  got  the  right  venom 
to  sting  him  with,  the  right  venom  to  sting  him  with." 

"  Yes,"  said  Mrs.  Poyser,  "  I  know  what  the  men 
like — a  poor  soft,  as  'ud  simper  at  'em  like  the  pictur 


104      THE   TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

o'  the  sun,  whether  they  did  right  or  wrong,  and  say 
thank  you  for  a  kick,  an'  pretend  she  didna  know 
what  end  she  stood  uppermost  till  her  husband  told 
her." 

Here  Mr.  Poyser  joins  in  the  conversation,  and  after 
another  satirical  speech  by  Bartle  Massev.  appeals  to 
his  wife,  saying  :  "  What  dost  say  to  that?" 

"  Say!"  answered  Mrs.  Poyser  with  dangerous  fire 
kindling  in  her  eye.  "  why,  I  say  as  some  folks'  tongues 
are  like  the  clocks  as  run  on  striking,  not  to  tell  you 
the  time  o'  day,  but  because  there's  summat  wrong  i' 
their  own  insides." 

This  is  the  climax  of  the  sparkling  dialogue,  which 
it  might  not  have  been,  but  for  a  boisterous  outburst 
of  inharmonious  melody  among  the  workmen,  followed 
by  the  song  :  "  Three  Merry  Mowers,"  lustily  sung  by 
Tim. 

We  would  have  to  travel  very  far  before  we  found 
more  pungent  wit  than  that  which  we  discover  in 
Chapter  LIII.  of  Adam  Bede.  It  also  enables  us  to 
recall  rural  life  in  a  generation  which  has  long  since 
passed  away.  I  do  not  marvel  at  Sir  Leslie's  judg- 
ment that  this  wonderful  story  placed  George  Eliot  in 
the  first  rank  of  Victorian  novelists,  and  that  Mrs. 
Poyser  became  at  once  one  of  the  immortals,  taking 
rank  with  Sam  Weller  as  "one  of  the  irresistible 
humorists."  Nor  do  I  quite  wonder  at  the  enthusiasm 
with  which  Miss  Betham-Edwards  speaks  of  the 
author.  She  says  of  George  Eliot  "  that  on  account 
of  her  great  gifts  and  despite  her  numerous  adorers, 
she  always  seemed  to  me  alone,  sadly,  almost  sub- 
limel)'^  alone."  In  view  of  this  great  book  I  think  we 
may  heartily  endorse  the  judgment  of  another  com- 
petent critic  who  says  :   "  What  Dickens  was  to  the 


HAYTIME    AT   THE   HALL   FARM  305 

crowd  George  Eliot  has  been  to  the  elect.  An  earnest 
and  serious  moral  and  spiritual  enthusiast,  the  most 
cultivated  of  scholars,  the  most  conscientious  of  artists, 
with  an  almost  terrible  sense  of  responsibility  en- 
trusted to  her  in  these  gifts,  she  raised  pure  fiction  to  a 
higher  plane  than  it  had  ever  aspired  to  before,  and  if 
her  influence  has  been  more  or  less  esoteric,  it  has  been 
of  incalculable  importance  to  art  and  life."  Of  Adam 
Bede,  that  keen  and  competent  critic,  the  late  Mr.  K. 
H.  Hutton,  said  that  it  was  a  wonderful  book,  always 
likely  to  remain  George  Eliot's  most  popular  book. 
This  judgment  seems  to  be  in  the  way  of  fulfilment. 
Henry  Morley  says  of  her  books  in  general  that  they 
will  cloud  no  true  faith,  and  are  works  of  rare  genius. 
Surely  their  tendency  is 

"  To  wake  the  soul  by  tender  strokes  of  art, 
To  raise  the  genius  and  to  mend  the  heart ; 
To  make  mankind  in  conscious  virtue  hold. 
Live  o'er  each  scene  and  be  what  they  behold." 


CHAPTEK    VII 

SETH   BEDE's    account    OF   HIMSELF 

' '  I  need  a  cleansing  change  within : 
My  life  must  once  again  begin  ; 
New  hope  I  need  and  youth  renewed. 
And  more  than  human  fortitude ; 
New  faith,  new  love  and  strength  to  cast 
Away  the  fetters  of  the  past." 

Hartley  Coleridge. 

Let  us  turn  our  thoughts  once  more  to  the  old  house 
at  Eoston  Common,  with  the  workshop  at  the  south 
end,  the  house  where  Adam  Bede  was  born  in  1773  and 
Seth  Bede  four  years  later.  Let  us  think  of  Seth  as 
now  eighteen  years  old,  and  as  having,  like  his  elder 
brothers,  passed  through  Bartle  Massey's  academy  and 
as  now  far  advanced  in  the  practice  of  his  father's 
laborious  calling.  By  this  time  the  eldest  son  had 
left  the  paternal  home  and  gone  to  live  in  Rocester. 
The  second  son,  William,  has  fixed  his  abode  in  Castle 
Donnington.  Thomas,  Robert  (Adam  Bede),  and 
Samuel  (Seth  Bede)  are  still  at  home.  The  father  is 
now  sixty  years  of  age,  and  the  bulk  of  the  business 
falls  on  his  capable  sons,  of  whom  he  was  very  proud. 
Sometimes  he  was  twitted  with  the  superior  workman- 
ship of  his  sons,  and  his  reply  was:  "Who  taught 
them?"       Seth  was  said  to  have  been  the  spoiled  son 

106 


SETH   BEDE'S   ACCOUNT    OF   HIMSELF       107 

of  his  mother,  but  his  sister,  my  grandmother,  used  to 
say  that  so  far  from  his  being  spoiled  by  his  mother, 
he  was  her  true  instructor  and  comforter  in  her  last 
illness.  The  family  gravestone  shows  that  she  died  in 
1803.  By  this  time  a  great  change  had  taken  place  in 
the  life  of  Seth  Bede.       He  shall  tell  the  story  in  his 


SCHOOL    ADJOINING    BA.RTLE    MASSEY  S    HOUSE,    NEAR    NORBURY    AND 
ROSTON    COMMON. 
"  Bartle  Massey's  was  one  of  a  few  scattered  houses  on  the  edge  of  a  common 
which  was  divided  by  the  road  to  Treddlestone." 

own  words.  I  have  an  autobiography  which  was  wTit- 
ten  at  his  dictation  when  he  was  an  old  man.  There 
is  in  it  a  preface  entirely  characteristic  of  the  humility 
which  always  distinguished  Seth  Bede. 

"  At  the  request  of  my  dear  children  and  friends  I  consent 
for  a  short  sketch  of  my  life  to  be  put  into  writing,  although 
I  do  not  know  what  can  be  said,  only  that,  after  all,  I  am  an 


108      THE   TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

unprofitable  servant,  I  can  speak  largely  on  the  goodness  of 
God  to  me  and  of  His  mercies  and  deliverances  through  my 
past  life,  but — 

'  I  loathe  myself  when  God  I  see, 

And  into  nothing  fall ; 
Content  if  Thou  exalted  be, 

And  Christ  be  all  in  all.'  " 

Humility,  gentleness,  and  patience  were  conspicuous 
qualities  in  the  character  of  Seth  Eede.      He  says— 

"  I  was  born  at  Roston  in  the  parish  of  Norbury,  Derbyshire. 
and  by  trade  I  am  a  joiner.  I  attended  the  church  regularly 
along  with  the  rest  of  the  family ;  1  was  very  dark  and  ignor- 
ant as  regards  divine  truths,  which  was  not  to  be  wondered  at. 
for  our  parish  minister  was  not  an  evangelical  one,  but  was 
fond  of  hunting,  shooting,  playing  at  cards  and  the  like  plea- 
sures of  a  worldly  nature,  shocking  to  say." 

Let  me  pause  here  to  acknowledge  with  deep  thank- 
fulness to  God  the  marked  change  in  the  piety  and  zeal 
of  the  country  clergy  during  the  more  than  one  hun- 
dred years  which  have  elapsed  since  Seth  Bede  was 
eighteen  years  old.  The  hunting  parson  has  not  en- 
tirely died  out,  and  yet  he  is  all  but  extinct.  Still  he 
was  common  enough  in  Seth  Bede's  early  days,  and, 
indeed,  in  mine  also.  One  of  the  entertaining  sights 
which  frequently  broke  the  monotony  of  village  life 
when  I  was  a  boy  was  the  periodical  appearance  of 
the  hounds  followed  by  a  company  of  mounted  men 
dressed  in  red  jackets,  and  among  them  one  or  more 
clergymen.  The  late  Lord  Bishop  of  Liverpool,  in  a 
very  noble  book,  entitled  Christian  Leaders  of  the  Last 
Century  (the  eighteenth)  gives  a  faithful  picture  of  the 
clergy  of  the  period.  Speaking  of  the  persecutions 
inflicted  on  that  true  servant  of  God,  William  Grim- 
shaw,  vicar  of  Ha  worth,  and  friend  of  Wesley,  for  his 
evangelistic  zeal  in  Yorkshire,  he  says  : 


ROBERT    EVANS    (ADAM     BEDE). 
From  a  miniature  in  the  possession  of  his  Grandson. 


) 


OF  THE     ^ 

UNIVERSITY 


SETH    BEDE'S    ACCOUNT    OF    HTMSEnF      111 


**  There  is  something  revolting  in  the  idea  of  a  holy  and  zeal- 
t  ous  minister  of  the  Church  of  England  being  persecuted  for 
overstepping  the  bounds  of  ecclesiastical  etiquette,  while  hun- 
dreds of  clergymen  were  let  alone  and  undisturbed  whose  lives 
and  doctrines  were  beneath  contempt.  All  over  England 
country  livings  were  often  filled  by  hunting,  shooting,  gamb- 
ling, drinking,  card-playing,  swearing,  ignorant  clergymen, 
who  cared  neither  for  law  nor  gospel,  and  utterly  neglected 
their  parishes.  When  they  did  preach  they  either  preached  to 
empty  benches,  or  else  the  hungry  sheep  looked  up  and  were 
not  fed.  And  yet  these  men  lived  under  their  own  vine  and 
fig  trees,  enjoying  great  quietness,  untouched  by  bishops,  eat- 
ing the  fat  of  the  land  and  calling  themselves  the  true  sup- 
porters of  the  Church." 

This  exactly  agrees  with  what  Seth  Bede  tells  us  of 
the  condition  of  things  in  his  native  Derb3^shire.  As 
he  has  told  us  of  his  spiritual  darkness,  we  will  now  let 
him  relate  to  us  the  manner  of  his  awakening. 

"  When  I  was  eighteen  I  heard  of  a  travelling  preacher,  Mr. 
William  Hicks,  who  preached  at  Snelstone.  Methodists  were 
not  looked  upon  in  those  days  as  they  are  now — they  were 
considered  fanatical  enthusiasts.  My  curiosity  was  very  much 
aroused,  hearing  that  Mr.  Hicks  preached  and  prayed  without 
a  book ;  which  I  considered  a  very  marvellous  thing.  I  felt 
determined  to  go  and  hear  him.  I  went,  and  while  he  was 
praying  the  first  time  conviction  seized  me.  I  was  in  great 
distress  of  mind,  the  weight  of  my  sins  was  more  than  I  could 
bear.  I  thought  I  was  the  worst  and  vilest  sinner  in  the 
place,  and  so  exceedingly  ignorant  was  I,  that  I  could  not 
imagine  what  was  the  matter  with  me.  I  might  take  up  the 
language  of  the  Psalmist  and  say  *  I  was  as  a  beast  before 
Thee.'  When  Mr.  Hicks  began  to  preach  I  thought  someone 
must  have  told  him  my  state,  as  every  word  was  meant  for  me. 
I  continued  in  that  state  of  mind  six  weeks;  the  anguish  of 
soul  I  endured  in  that  time  was  only  known  to  God  and  my- 
self. At  the  end  of  six  weeks  I  was  praying  alone  in  my  room 
before  I  went  to  work.  The  Lord  in  great  mercy  broke  in 
upon  my  soul,  pardoned  my  sins  and  made  me  happy  in  His 
love.      I  felt  peace  and  joy  through  believing." 

It  is  worth  while  to  pause  here  and  ask  ourselves  by 
what    influence    this    extraordinary    revolution    was 


112      THE   TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

brought  about?  Under  the  ministration  cf  an  extem- 
pore prayer,  offered  by  a  stranger  whom  he  had  never 
seen  before,  all  in  a  moment  there  comes  to  the  soul 
of  this  simple  country  youth  a  self  revelation  which 


WESLEYAN    CHAPEL,    ROSTOX,    XORBURY. 
Referred  to  in  Samuel  Evans'  (Seth  Bede)  memoirs. 

startles  and  appals  him.     Outwardly  no  one  could  have 
been  more  orderly  in  conduct  than  he^ 

"A  son  that  never  did  amiss, 

That  never  shamed  his  mother's  kiss, 
Or  crossed  her  fondest  prayer." 

Yet  now  he  feels  himself  the  vilest  sinner  in  the 
place.     What   is    it    that    has    wrought    this    sudden 


SETH   BEDE'S   ACCOUNT   OF   HIMSELF       113 

change?  He  has  been  drawn  to  the  place  by  curiosity, 
gripped  by  instantaneous  spiritual  force  which  he  can 
by  no  means  account  for,  and  yet  it  has  completely 
mastered  him.  It  was  not  logic,  for  no  proposition 
had  been  advanced;  it  was  not  persuasion,  for  the 
messenger  had  not  begun  to  plead.  True  he  had 
heard  the  strains  of  a  hymn  before  he  had  listened  to 
the  prayer,  but  what  of  that?  He  had  heard  singing 
often  enough  at  the  parish  church  without  being  per- 
turbed by  it,  and  even  on  this  occasion  the  singing 
seems  to  have  made  slight  impression.  The  prayer, 
however,  arrested  him,  and  then  the  sermon  transfixed 
him.  All  things  are  different  now.  The  placid  and 
contented  Seth,  so  dear  to  his  devoted  mother,  is 
plunged  into  poignant  and  self -reproaching  distress. 
The  anxious  mother  can  come  to  no  other  conclusion 
than  that  her  darling  son  has  gone  mad.  As  for  him, 
a  piercing  searchlight  has  been  turned  on  his  inner 
life,  and  there  is  a  new  and  vivid  revelation  of  himself. 
His  own  artless  description  reminds  me  cf  what  St. 
Augustine  has  said  of  himself  in  his  Confessions  : 
"  Thou,  0  Lord,  while  he  (Pontitianus)  was  speaking, 
didst  turn  me  round  tow^ards  myself,  taking  me  from 
behind  my  back  where  he  had  placed  me,  unwilling  to 
observe  myself ;  and  setting  me  before  my  face  that  I 
might  see  how  foul  I  was,  how  crooked  and  defiled, 
!  bespotted  and  ulcerous.  I  beheld  and  stood  aghast ; 
I  and  whither  to  flee  from  myself  I  found  not." 
1  But,  sudden  as  had  been  the  keen  dart  of  conviction 
I  in  Seth  Bede's  case,  equally  sudden  was  the  inflowing 
!  of  joy.  Every  day  he  rises  early  to  go  to  his  work, 
but  earlier  still  for  his  morning  cry  to  God  out  of  the 
:  sorrows  of  a  troubled  mind.  "  Then,"  says  he,  "  the 
light  broke  in  upon  my  soul."  Whence  this  visitation 
i         9 


114     THE   TRUE   STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

came  he  never  had  a  doubt.      To  him  it  was  all  divine. 

Seth  Bede  had  the  full  realisation  of  that  for  which 
poor  Hartley  Coleridge  prayed  in  the  lines  at  the  head 
of  this  chapter.  There  was  in  intensest  reality  a  new 
beginning  of  life.  There  was  first  that  astounding 
revelation  of  himself  to  himself,  which  had  so  bitterly 
confounded  and  distressed  him,  and  then  there  was 
that  still  small  voice  that  spoke  to  him  early  in  the 
morning,  by  which  he  was  assured  of  cleansing  and 
peace. 

Into  the  closest  relationship  with  God  has  Seth  Bede 
now  consciously  entered,  and  for  him  it  is  the  begin- 
ning of  a  new  and  happy  life.  At  Snelstone  which 
was  the  next  village  to  Norbury  and  Boston  Common, 
there  lived  a  well-to-do  farmer  of  the  name  of  Beres- 
ford.  This  gentleman  was  a  Methodist  class-leader 
and  local  preacher,  and  had  built  a  preaching-room  on 
his  own  premises.  Seth  Bede  writes  of  him  as  "  a 
very  precious  man  of  God."  To  him  Seth  went  and 
related  his  new  experiences,  and  was  at  once  received 
into  the  Methodist  Society.  Four  years  passed  by, 
and  there  came  another  development.  These  were 
evidently  years  of  spiritual  growth,  steady  progress,  ■ 
and  deepening  joy  to  the  young  convert — 

"  I  met  with  Mr.  Beresford  four  years,  and  only  missed  once 
in  the  time,  although  the  meeting-place  was  a  mile  from  Bos- 
ton, where  I  lived.       I  often  had  to  go  four  miles  to  work,  and    ; 
then  after  that  a  mile  to  my  class.       Very  often  since  I  have    i 
wished  that  my  members  had  evinced  the  same  love  for  their    ; 
class  that  I  did  for  mine." 

It  was  manifestly  very  exhilarating  for  the   aged  , 

Seth  to  look  back  on  the  early  years  of  his  spiritual  pil-  ; 

grimage,  and  the  memory  of  Mr.  Beresford,  after  the  \ 

lapse  of  sixty  years,  was  to  him  both  fragrant  and  \ 


SETH   BEDE'S   ACCOUNT   OF   HIMSELF       115 

inspiring.  But  a  tragic  event  severed  the  connection 
of  the  leader  and  his  disciple.  Mr.  Beresford  was  one 
day  thrown  from  his  horse,  the  neck  was  dislocated, 
and  the  good  man  died.  Not,  however,  before  he  had 
time  to  send  for  Seth  Bede,  who  was  astonished  to  be- 


THORXTREE    FARM,    SXELSTOXE. 
Home  of  Mrs.  Gough,  niece  of  Samuel  Evans  (Setfi  Bede).     Mrs.  Gougli  is  claimed 
by  some  as  the  original  of  Mrs.  Poyser. 

hold  with  what  calm  peace  and  holy  triumph  his  dying 
class-leader  could  meet  the  unexpected  death  which 
had  so  abruptly  overtaken  him.  When  the  country 
was  ringing  with  slanders  concerning  the  Methodists, 
their  great  founder  claimed  for  them  this  characteris- 
tic :  "  They  die  well."  Nothing  could  be  more  true, 
but  in  reality  it  was  because  they  had  learned  to  live 
well.     And  so  it  was  that  Mr.  Beresford  could  meet 


116     THE   TRUE   STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

his  awfully  sudden  death  with  such  rapturous  assur- 
ance and  holy  peace.  The  untoward  event  neverthe- 
less was  one  of  keen  sorrow  to  Seth  Bede.  What 
could  be  more  natural  than  that  he  should  unbosom  his 
grief  to  his  former  pastor,  the  Eev.  W.  Hicks,  now 
removed  to  the  Burton-on  Trent  circuit?  This  good 
minister  replied  that  it  might  be  that  God  had  taken 
away  the  first  to  establish  the  second.  Indeed,  this 
is  what  came  of  it,  for  Seth,  at  the  age  of  twenty-tw^o, 
was  chosen  leader  of  the  class,  and  appointed  a  local 
preacher  in  the  place  of  Mr.  Beresford,  and  I  am  en- 
titled to  say  also  that  for  the  long  period  of  fifty-nine 
years  he  was  one  of  the  most  laborious,  self-sacri- 
ficing and  consecrated  class-leaders  and  local  preachers 
that  the  great  Methodist  denomination  has  ever  num- 
bered in  its  ranks.  His  autobiography  tells  us  of  keen 
spiritual  struggles,  wrestlings  of  deep  agony,  and  as- 
suring triumphs  of  spiritual  power ;  of  rising  at  three 
or  four  o'clock  in  the  morning  for  reading,  study  and 
prayer,  of  dreams  and  visions  in  the  night,  and  of  souls 
quickened  to  a  new  life  by  his  efforts,  w^hich  appar- 
ently is  the  sanction  and  reward  of  his  toil. 

It  was,  however,  not  all  plain  sailing.  There  were 
two  elder  brothers  still  at  home,  and  the  following  ex- 
tract wilt  show  how  they  regarded  the  irregularities  of 
Seth: 

"  My  elder  brothers  Robert  and  Thomas  teased  me.  They 
told  me  I  made  blunders  both  in  preaching  and  prayer,  and 
that  I  had  more  zeal  than  knowledge.  I  dare  say  I  had.  They 
were  High  Church  in  their  sympathies  and  despised  the 
Methodists,  and  tried  hard  to  argue,  to  baffle  and  confound 
me.  I  betook  myself  to  prayer,  the  Lord  enlightened  my 
understanding ;  I  became  familiar  with  Scripture,  and  was  able 
to  give  every  man  a  reason  for  the  hope  that  was  in  me.  My 
brothers  and  I  often  talked  about  these  things  in  after  life 
when  we  occasionally  met  together." 


SETH   BEDE'S   ACCOUNT   OF   HIMSELF       117 

That  simple  touch  concerning  the  conversations  in 
after  years  is  beautifully  suggestive.  They  all  lived  to 
be  old  men.  I  happen  to  know  that  though  life  had 
sundered  them  apart  for  many  years,  yet  they  did 
occasionally  meet,  and  were  exceedingly  united  and 
happy  with  each  other.       Of  this  we  are  sure,  Seth 


FARMHOUSE    AT    SNELSTOXK,    COXTAINIXG    A    PORTION'    OF   THE    WALLS 
OF   A    DISMANTLED    WESLEYAX    CHAPEL. 

Mentioned  by  Samuel  and  Elizabeth  Evans  (Seth  Be  le  and  Dinah  Morris)  in 
their  memoirs. 


never  repented  his  early  choice,  and  I  have  good  rea- 
son to  believe  that  all  the  brothers  had  come  to  realise 
that  for  him  it  was  the  best  he  could  have  made.  In- 
dependently of  chm'ch  relationships,  all  the  brothers— 
my  own  grandmother  also,  as  their  sister— were  really 
proud  of  the  consistent  piety,  simple  faith  and  self- 


118     THE   TRUE   STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

sacrificing  goodness  of  Seth  Bede,  long  years  before 
any  individual  had  conceived  that  his  fragrant  memory 
would  one  day  be  embalmed  in  the  pages  of  immortal 
fiction.      What  is  it  that  decides  the  different  beliefs  of 
children  all  brought  up  under  the  same  influences  at 
home?     Here,  in  a  remote  hamlet  in  Derbyshire,  are 
five  sons,  all  of  them   trained   to   attend   the  parish 
church,  to  recite  the  Church  Catechism,  to  reverence 
the  clergyman,  to  go  forward  for  confirmation,  and  to 
start   life  as   reverent   Churchmen.        The   first   died 
early,  but  not  before  he  had  become  a  convert  of  the 
•Methodists;  the  second  became  a  Baptist;  the  third 
and  fourth  remained  to  the  end  of  life  staunch  Church- 
imen,  while  the  youngest  son,  to  the  close  of  a  long 
(career,  was  a  devoted  Methodist.     All  were  good  men, 
and,  in  spite  of  religious  differences,  maintained  to 
old  age  true  fraternal  friendship  and  unbroken  family 
^  unity.     The  Methodist  cause  at  Snelstone  has  fared 
•ill.     From   Mr.    Beresford's   room   it   migrated   to   a 
■chapel,   which   was   built   for   it,   to   which   a   burial 
Aground  was  attached.     In  process  of  years  the  cause 
'declined,  and  the  responsible  trustee  sold  the  building 
and  the  graveyard  to  the  village  squire.     Some  few 
of  the  bodies  interred  there  were  taken  up  and  re- 
interred    in    the    parish    churchyard,    but    there    is 
now    no    mark    to    indicate    a    burial    ground,    al- 
though many  bodies  remain  in  their  original  graves, 
and  among  them  that  of  George,  the  eldest  son  of 
George  and  Mary  Evans  (Thias  and  Lisbeth  Bede). 
One  devout  old  woman,  who  was  a  member  there,  still 
survives.     She  heard  it  said  that  the  chief  authority 
of  the  village  gave  it  to  be  understood  that  there  must 
be  no  more  preaching  in  Snelstone.     That  view  has 
been  confirmed  by  other  testimony.     She  remembers 


JSETH    BEDE'S    ACCOUNT    OF    HIMSELF     121 

well  the  visits  of  Dinah  Morris  to  Snelstone  when  she 
herself  was  a  servant  to  Mrs.  Gongh,  a  farmer's  wife, 
said  hy  some  writers  to  have  been  the  prototype  of 
Mrs.  Poyser.  This  lady  w^as  a  cousin  of  George  Eliot. 
The  servant  w^ent  to  Ella  stone  to  hear  Dinah  Morris 
preach  while  she  was  visiting  Mrs.  Gough,  the  chapel 
at  Snelstone  being  by  this  time  converted  into  a  farm- 
house. I  am  sorry  that  the  Society  of  Methodists 
which  Seth  Bede  first  joined  has  ceased  to  exist,  while 
the  other  he  mentions  as  existing  at  Boston  still  sur- 
vives. He  writes  about  them  with  loving  enthusiasm 
in  his  old  age  : 

"  I  was  sure  I  was  in  my  right  place,  for  the  Lord  gave  mo 
souls  for  my  hire  and  seals  for  my  ministry.  I  found  it  very 
profitable  to  read  the  Word  of  God  upon  my  knees.  The  Lord 
was  very  pitiful  and  kind.  He  enlightened  my  understanding. 
Very  shortly  I  was  entered  on  full  plan  Avith  the  rest  of  my 
brethren.  I  am  now  nearly  eighty,  and  my  name  is  still  on 
the  preaching  plan.  I  can  say:  'Hitherto  the  Lord  hath 
helped  me.'  I  feel  thankful  to  God  that  I  can  preach  a  full 
and  free  salvation  to  a  lost  and  ruined  race.  O,  how  free  it 
is,  and  how  reasonable  its  terms  if  people  would  but  give  up 
their  sins  and  make  their  calling  and  election  sure.  I  was 
very  fond  of  the  people  I  laboured  amongst  at  Roston  and 
Snelstone.  We  were  all  of  one  heart  and  soul,  which  is  very 
delightful.      W^ould  to  God  it  were  always  so  !" 

All  this  while  Seth  Bede  was  toiling  at  his  calling 
of  carpenter  and  joiner.  We  have  Adam's  own  clear 
testimony  of  his  industry  and  capacity  as  a  workman  ; 
his  labours  are  exacting  and  his  hours  long,  yet  he  finds 
time  to  study  well  his  Bible,  his  Concordance  and 
Bible  dictionary  ;  he  ministers  to  the  needs  of  many, 
and  is  a  helper  of  their  joy.  I  can  scarcely  imagine  any 
experience  in  life  happier  than  Seth's.  With  good 
health  and  abounding  strength  for  labour,  a  life  fired 
with  hijyh  enthusiasm,  talents  consecrated  to  Christian 


122      THE   TRUE   STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

service,  the  humble  joiner  is  one  of  the  happiest  of 
men.  His  sphere  is  Hmited,  I  know,  his  advantages 
for  acquiring  knowledge  are  but  few;  nevertheless,  he 
has  learned  early  in  his  career  the  true  secret  of  rest, 
and  his  life  is  one  of  the  purest  content  and  the 
sweetest  satisfaction  even  to  its  closing  hours. 

A  recent  biographer  of  George  Eliot  has  said  :  "  Seth 
Bede  bores  me."  But  then,  he  only  knows  the  Seth 
Bede  of  fiction,  where  Seth  is  continually  subordinated 
to  Adam,  if  not  more  or  less  sacrificed.  The  sup- 
posed needs  of  dramatic  presentation  modified  the  re- 
lative positions  of  the  two  brothers,  and  in  this  way 
Seth  has  been  overshadowed.  In  these  chapters  we 
are  telling  a  real-life  story,  and  in  this  narration  Seth 
will  appear  as  one  of  the  truest  and  strongest  of  men. 
On  my  last  visit  to  Wirks worth  a  gentleman  remarked 
to  me  :  "1  consider  Seth  Bede  was  one  of  the  best 
benefactors  our  town  has  ever  had.  He  brought  a 
new  industry  into  the  parish  which  has  flourished  for 
the  greater  part  of  a  century  and  given  employment  to 
many  hundreds  of  persons,  and  is  flourishing  to-day." 
This  is  a  true  witness.  Its  justification  will  appear  as 
we  proceed  with  our  recital.  Meanwhile,  we  must 
turn  aside  from  Seth  for  awhile  to  deal  with  Dinah 
Morris.  To  me  this  character  is  the  principal  charm 
in  the  novel  of  Adam  Bede. 


CHAPTEE    Vni 

DINAH   MORRIS    PREACHING   ON   THE   GREEN   AT 
HAYSLOPE 

"  She  taught  us  how  to  live; 
With  blameless  life  girt  round  with  sanctity, 
Lowly    in    heart,    in    soul    and    purpose    high. 

Sweet  lessons  did  she  give 
Of   faith,   of  love,    of   hope;    for   all   that   shone 
Brightest  in  Christian  lives,  she  made  her  own." 

Burleigh. 

Few  of  the  pictures  presented  in  fiction  more  indelibly 
impress  themselves  on  the  reader's  mind  than  the 
preaching  of  Dinah  Morris  on  Hay  slope  Green.  The 
scene  is  so  picturesque,  with  just  a  dash  of  the  mar- 
vellous thrown  in ;  the  youth  and  sex  of  the  preacher, 
the  calm  of  the  summer  evening,  the  gathering  of  the 
simple  villagers,  the  stranger  listening  on  horseback 
spellbound  by  the  preaching — all  these  join  to  produce 
a  situation  which  cannot  well  be  forgotten.  One  can 
almost  hear  the  solemn  tones  of  the  hymn  rising  on 
the  evening  air,  and  we  seem  to  watch  the  mounted 
traveller  as  he  goes  forward  on  his  way. 

I  have  conversed  with  many  hundreds  of  the  readers 
of  Adam  Bede,  and,  without  exception,  I  find  that  the 
scene  delineated  in  Chapter  II.  has  been  remembered 
with  striking  vividness.  It  is  to  this  narrative  we 
must  turn  in  introducing  Dinah  Morris. 

123 


124      THE    TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT 

In  a  general  way,  but  without  finding  exact  corres- 
pondence in  every  particular,  we  may  take  it  that  the 
village  of  Ellastone  answers  to  the  Hayslope  of  the 
novel.  The  traveller  on  horseback,  with  portmanteau 
strapped  behind  him,  may  well  be  supposed  to  have 
approached  the  village  by  the  steep  incline  which 
marks  the  arrival  from  Ashbourne,  and  as  he  drew 
near,  he  may  have  caught  a  glimpse  of  Wootton  Hal! 
on  his  right,  in  the  midst  of  hanging  woods  far  up  the 
valley,  he  may  have  lingered  to  gaze  on  the  fair  picture, 
and  he  may  have  passed  on  his  way  after  the  preaching 
down  the  gentle  slope  on  hi«  journey  to  Eocester  and 
Uttoxeter. 

The  Ellastone  of  1799  was  not  very  different  from 
the  Ellastone  of  the  twentieth  century.  A  few  ne\^ 
houses  have  been  built,  thatched  roofs  have  given 
place  to  Staffordshire  tiles,  the  roads  are  much  im-i 
proved,  but  the  place,  always  beautiful,  remains  much 
as  it  was  a  hundred  years  ago.  It  stands  in  the  midst 
of  a  pleasantly  diversified  landscape,  in  which  there  are 
blended  green  pastures,  rich  meadows,  furrowed  corn- 
fields,  fruitful  orchards,  and  shady  plantations;  witr 
Weaver  Hills  standing  sentinel  on  the  north,  "to 
guard  this  region  of  corn  and  grass  "  from  the  hungry 
winds  which  blow^  from  that  quarter ;  w^hile  the  valley 
of  the  Dove,  with  the  low  hills  of  the  Derbyshire 
border  at  Norbury  and  Eoston,  bound  the  vision  to 
the  south. 

The  village  of  Ellastone  has  other  literary  and  art 
associations  than  those  of  Adam  Bede,  for  Jean 
Jaques  Eousseau  resided  for  a  year  at  Wootton  Hall ; 
George  Frederick  Handel  composed  part  of  his 
great  Oratorio,  The  Messiah,  at  Calwich  Abbey  :  and 
Archbishop  Sheldon  was  born  in  the  parish. 


"5     '-*"  5 
3    -yd 


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^    2 
S   "Z 


O     4;     > 

lis 

— ^  • 

*^  o 


O.S'Sd 


JF  THE     "^ 

^ilVERSITY 

OF   • 


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DINAH  MORRIS  PREACHING  AT  HAYSLOPE     127 

EUastone  is  a  wide  parish  of  more  than  seven  thou- 
sand acres,  and  includes  the  five  townships  of  Calwich, 
Prestwood,  Eamsor,  Stanton,  and  Wootton,  con- 
taining together  a  population  of  twelve  hundred  souls. 
The  Parish  Church  of  St.  Peter  occupies  a  prominent 
position  on  rising  ground,  and  the  vicarage  commands 
delightful  views  across  the  valley  to  the  wooded  heights 


WESLEYAX    CHAPEL,    ELI.ASTOXE    (hAYSLOPE). 

of  Derbyshire.  A  painter  residing  here  would  find 
around  him  charming  landscapes  for  his  canvas,  and  in 
the  picturesque  valleys  of  both  the  Churnet  and  the 
Dove  he  would  discover  varying  scenes  of  choicest 
beauty.  Alas,  the  village  green  has  long  since  dis- 
appeared. I  doubt  not  that  it  once  occupied  the 
ground  opposite  the  Bromley  Arms  Inn.     I  can  trace 


128      THE    TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT 

the  old  boundary  of  it  in  part,  while  traditions  of  it 
linger  among  the  villagers.  One  could  have  wished 
that  the  green  and  the  maple  tree  which  figure  in  the 
novel  had  been  allowed  to  remain,  but  like  some  other 
things — the  parish  stocks  and  the  parish  pound,  for 
example — they  are  not  as  they  were. 

The  question  for  us  to  consider  is  w^hether  Dinah 
Morris  did  preach  at  Ella  stone  or  not.  On  this  point  ] 
can  furnish  the  very  best  testimony.  On  one  of  my! 
journeys  to  Staffordshire  my  mother  informed  me  of  a 
retired  builder  residing  at  Ashbourne,  who  had  heard 
Dinah  Morris  preach  on  the  green  at  Ellastone.  Mr. 
Phillips  was  a  hale  old  man,  a  good  Methodist,  with  a 
clear  brain  and  a  lively  memory.  I  had  a  pleasant 
interview  with  him.  His  description  of  the  scene  was 
vivid  and  telling.  He  recalled  it  with  sparkling  en- 
thusiasm. When  he  heard  the  preaching  he  was  a 
youthful  apprentice  in  the  building-yard  originated  in 
P'llastone  by  Adam  Bede.  Dinah's  preaching  pro- 
duced an  impression  on  his  mind  w^hich  it  was*  delight- 
ful for  him  to  recall.  His  eyes  moistened  and  his 
voice  mellowed  as  I  asked  hi'm  the  question  :  "Do 
you  remember  her  as  a  woman  w^ho  preached  with  re- 
markable power?"  The  ready  and  energetic  reply 
was  :  "  I  felt  the  power  in  my  own  soul,  and  never 
can  forget  it.  It  penetrated  me  through  and  through. 
I  shall  bless  God  to  all  eternity  that  I  ever  heard  her 
voice." 

There  is  other  testimony  as  well.  It  is  found  in  the 
autobiography  of  Seth  Bede.  He  tells  of  a  series  of 
meetings  in  the  open-air  during  a  summer  period. 
Then  came  the  autumn  chills  and  rains.  One  Sunday 
evening  Dinah  was  preaching  while  a  shower  of  rain 
was  falling.       The  meeting  was  held  in  the  immediate 


DINAH  MORRIS  PREACHING  AT  HAYSLOPE     129 

vicinity  of  the  inn,  a  statement  agreeing  with  other 
evidence  as  to  the  site  of  the  green.  The  Methodists 
did  not  think  the  landlord  likely  to  be  favourable  to- 
wards their  meetings,  but  certainty  he  must  have  been 
a  kind-hearted  man,  for  he  surprised  and  delighted 
them  by  walking  across  the  read  to  their  gathering  to 


THE    VICARAGE,    ELLASTOXE    (hAYSLOPE) 


make  them  an  offer  of  the  use  of  his  spacious  club- 
room,  where  the  meetings  were  continued  for  the 
winter  season. 

Another  question,  however,  remains.  Were  these 
facts  about  the  preaching  of  Dinah  Morris  at  Ellastone 
known  to  George  Eliot?  About  this  I  have  not  a 
doubt.     Of  course,  there  were  other  places,  and,  in- 

10 


130      THE   TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT 

deed,  many  of  them,  where  Dinah  preached  in  the: 
open-air.  But,  to  begin  with,  George  EHot  knew 
Ellastone  well.  She  tells  of  her  visits  to  her  father's; 
brother  William  at  this  place,  of  whom  she  speaks  as: 
a  rich  builder.  I  have  already  referred  to  her  visit  to 
Wirksworth,  and  of  a  long  afternoon  spent  in  the 
parlour  of  her  cousin,  Mrs.  Walker,  writing  down  from 
the  lips  of  her  aunt,  Dinah  Morris,  the  account  of  her 
preaching  experiences. 

Mrs.  W^alker  told  me  very  definitely  of  the  saying  of 
the  latter  :  "I  have  been  giving  to  your  cousin  an 
account  of  my  preaching  in  the  open  air  at  Ellastone, 
and  she  wants  to  write  it  all  down."  The  tete-a-tete 
of  the  two,  on  that  occasion,  occupied  a  period  of  threes 
hours.  It  has  an  important  bearing  on  the  preaching 
at  Hay  slope.  I  do  not  wish  my  readers  to  suppose; 
that  all  the  incidents  related  of  the  preaching  there  are; 
to  be  taken  as  historical.  That  would  be  to  allow  no 
play  for  the  imagination  of  the  author.  It  is  quitcj 
enough  to  know  that  she  was  aware  of  this  ministra- 
tion on  the  part  of  Dinah,  and  this  being  taken  as 
established,  we  may  realise  for  ourselves  that  it  was 
hers,  as  a  writer  of  fiction,  to  clothe  the  bare  incident 
with  the  drapery  appropriate  to  its  dramatic  presenta- 
tion ,  and  thus  we  owe  it  to  her  rare  genius  for  realisti<3 
description  that  we  have  this  fascinating  scene  which 
has  become  so  famous  in  literary  craftsmanship. 

The  attitude  of  mind  and  heart  of  the  writer  at  the 
time  when  she  came  into  close  contact  with  Dinali 
Morris  is  sufficiently  attested  to  enable  us  to  reahse  it 
very  clearly.  She  was  then  a  devout  and  earnest 
Christian  woman,  full  of  faith  and  good  w^orks.  An 
extract  from  one  of  her  letters  to  Seth  Bede  will  re- 
veal all  this  to  us  more  fully  than  any  words  of  mine. 


CHURCH    OF    ST.    PETER,    EI.LASTONE    (hAYSLOPE), 


DINAH  MORRIS  PREACHING  AT  HAYSLOPE    13;^ 

She  is  writing  of  Dinah  INIorris  at  a  time  when  the 
beloved  aunt  lay  dangerously  ill  at  Wirksw^orth.  The 
letter  reveals  a  decided  Christian  experience  and  an 
exultant  spiritual  faith.  A  recent  WTiter  on  George 
Eliot  with  keen  penetration  has  stated  that  when  she 
appeared  as  a  novelist  the  multitude  of  her  readers  per- 
ceived at  once  that  she  knew  the  secrets  of  the  spiritual 
life.  The  religion  of  the  heart,  says  this  very  com- 
petent critic,  cannot  be  feigned.  This  is  the  great 
peculiarity  of  George  Eliot's  position.  Whatever  may 
have  been  her  ultimate  fate,  she  was  assuredly  of 
those  who  were  once  enHghtened,  who  tasted  of  the 
heavenly  gift  and  the  powders  of  the  world  to  come. 
All  this  is  substantiated  to  the  full  by  the  choice 
extract  I  am  about  to  give.     It  is  dated  : 

Griff  Bouse,  Aug.  10,  1840. 
My  dear  Uncle, 

"  Remembering  the  apostle's  declaration  that  to  be 
absent  from  the  body  is  to  be  present  with  the  Lord,  I  cannot, 
for  her  own  sake,  regret  that  my  dear  aunt  is  so  very  near  the 
brink  of  Jordan.  I  would  only  pray  that  her  Heavenly  Father 
may,  out  of  His  tender  consideration  for  His  creatures  who 
are  but  dust,  lighten  the  weight  of  bodilv  suflFering  as  far  as 
may  consist  with  His  designs  of  mercy  to  the  soul.  Give  my 
dear  aunt,  if  she  be  able  to  receive  it,  an  assurance  from  me 
of  my  affection  for  her,  and  tell  her  I  humbly  resolve  in  the 
strength  of  the  Lord  to  seek  His  face  evermore,  that  we  may 
sing  together  a  new  song  before  the  throne.  For  you,  my 
dear  uncle,  both  my  father  and  myself  truly  feel,  and  I  have 
endeavoured  to  pray  that  you  may  be  powerfully  sustained 
under  a  trial  that  will  indeed  bereave  you  of  one  who  has 
been  as  the  apple  of  your  eye;  but  is  it  not  to  this  end, 
that  God  may  be  all  in  all  with  you,  and  that  having  no 
earthly  prop  you  may  walk  entirely  by  faith?  I  doubt  not,  my 
dear  uncle,  that  you  will  evidence  the  possession  of  what  be- 
longs only  to  the  Christian — joy  in  tribulation — and  that  you 
will  thus  glorify  the  God  of  Israel  even  in  the  fires.  Truly 
the  commandments  of  God  are  not  grievous,  for  the  Apostle 


134      THE    TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

sums  them  up  bj'  a  '  Rejoice  in  the  Lord,  and  again  I  say 
rejoice  '  ;  and  though  this  may  seem  a  great  difficulty  when  the. 
lieart  is  bowed  down  and  rent  in  twain  by  the  loss  of  our 
earthly  gourds,  in  reality  that  is  the  very  time  when  we  can 
best  relish  the  waters  that  make  glad  the  city  of  God.  '  Trials 
make  the  promise  sweet ' — such  promises  as  these :  '  To  him 
that  overcometh  will  I  grant  to  sit  on  mv  throne.'  '  Th'> 
Lamb  that  is  in  the  midst  of  the  throne  shall  feed  them.' 
'  And  God  shall  wipe  all  tears  away  from  their  eyes.'  " 

When  George  Eliot  wrote  this  letter  she  was  twenty 
years  of  age.  She  was  in  the  midst  of  her  busy  life 
as  housekeeper  and  dairy  woman  at  Griff,  she  was  pur- 
suing her  ardent  intellectual  studies,  and  engaging  in 
active  Christian  work  among  the  poor  people  around 
her.  Before  the  aunt  died,  the  blight  of  her  faith 
had  come  to  her,  and- she  tells  us  there  was  mutual 
pain  in  their  last  interview. 

After  this  illness  Dinah  Morris  lived  another  nine 
years.  It  was  in  this  period  that  I  first  heard  of 
George  Eliot.  We,  in  Staffordshire ,  were  told  of  her 
refusal  to  accompany  her  father  to  church,  of  her  un- 
belief in  the  credibility  of  the  Christian  revelation,  of 
the  instrumentality  of  people  who  were  Unitarians  in 
bringing  about  this  change,  and,  quite  naturally,  we 
thought  hard  things  of  a  daughter  who  could  give  such 
agonising  pain  to  so  indulgent  a  father  and  so  good  a 
man  as  Adam  Bede ;  and  we  did  not  think  kindly 
of  the  people  called  Unitarians  who  could  have  suc- 
ceeded in  bringing  about  such  a  result.  I  am  bound 
to  say  that,  so  far  as  I  know,  every  one  of  her  relations 
in  Staffordshire  and  Derbyshire  would  be  entirely  out 
of  harmony  with  George  Eliot's  surrender  of  faith, 
and,  as  I  well  remember,  greatly  marvelled  that  it 
should  have  taken  place.     1  am  sure  it  was  a  poignant 


DINAH  MORRIS  PREACHING  AT  HAYSLOPE     135 

grief  to  her  aunt,  Dinah  Morris,  who  died  in  the  same 
year  that  Adam  Bede  died,  and  also  to  Seth  Bede,  who 
hved  nine  years  longer.  But  the  intercourse  with 
Wirksworth  had  now  ceased ,  and  she  never  visited  her 
friends  in  that  region  again.  Still,  we  can  see  from 
her  book  that  she  had  not  lost  her  warm  affection  for 


CHAD    cranage's    FORGE    (RECENTLY    DEMOLISHEDj. 


her  aunt,  for  the  portrait  of  Dinah,  which  was  cer- 
tainly suggested  to  her  mind  by  the  knowledge  of  her 
aunt,  while  wrought  with  consummate  skill,  is  also 
done  with  warm  affection  and  keen  sympathy. 

In  the  Ellastone  preaching  scene  Dinah  is  intro- 
duced as  a  young  unmarried  woman  from  Stonyshire, 
visiting  her  relations  at  the  Hall  Farm,  whose  visit 


136     THE    TRUE    STORY    OF    GEORGE    ELIOT 

the  local  Methodists  took  advantage  of  to  arrange  for 
the  preaching  on  the  green.  This,  however,  is  at 
variance  with  what  actually  occurred.  The  visitation 
of  relatives  may  be  removed  from  our  consideration. 
She  had  no  local  connections  whatever,  but  was  in- 
duced to  come  over  by  Seth  Bede,  exclusively  for  the 
purposes  of  the  preaching.  Nevertheless,  since  Dinah 
did  preach,  as  a  young  woman  from  Nottingham,  in 
the  town  of  Ashbourne,  and  was  heard  there  by  Seth 
Bede,  it  is  most  probable  that  her  first  appearance  at 
Ellastone  synchronised  with  her  first  visit  to  Ash- 
bourne. Afterwards  it  was  not  as  an  unmarried 
spinster  that  Dinah  preached  there,  but  as  a  bride  of 
some  thirty  years  of  age.  The  services  on  the  village 
green,  to  which  Seth  Bede  alludes  as  being  continued 
all  one  summer  season,  and  then  transferred  to  the 
club-room,  occurred  after  the  preacher  had  come  to 
reside  at  Norbury  as  a  married  w^oman. 

We  must  not  forget  that,  in  reading  Adam.  Bede, 
we  are  dealing  with  a  work  of  fiction,  and  therefore 
the  writer  is  entitled  to  present  her  narrative  to  us 
according  to  the  demands  of  her  literary  art,  and  we 
have  no  ground  of  complaint  that  she  has  done  so. 
Anyhow,  the  preaching  did  happen,  Dinah  Morris  was 
the  preacher,  and  she  told  the  story  of  it  to  George 
Eliot  in  the  summer  of  1837,  during  one  of  her  visits 
to  Wirksw^orth. 

The  main  features  of  the  place  as  mentioned  in  the 
story  are  plainly  visible  to-day.  We  know  where  the 
village  green  w^as  situated,  the  churchyard  gates  men- 
tioned in  the  novel  are  close  at  hand,  the  Donnithorne 
Arms  Inn  is  exactly  opposite,  and  the  club-room  al- 
luded to  by  Seth  Bede  is  a  long  and  spacious  apartment 
for  public  gatherings  extending  over  the  stables  of  the 


or  Th'F      ' 
OF 


DINAH  MORRIS  PREACHING  AT  HAYSLOPE    139 

inn,  as  is  often  the  case  with  village  inns  of  the  olden 
time.  The  blacksmith's  smithy,  where  we  are  told 
Chad  Cranage  stood  gossiping  with  his  neighbom^s,  is 
just  round  the  corner,  in  ruins  now,  because  a  more 
modern  structure  has  taken  its  place.  There  is  no 
maple  tree  to-day,  whatever  may  have  been  the  case 
a  hundred  years  ago. 

Speaking  of  the  club-room,  Seth  Bede  snys  :  "  We 
held  meetings  there  for  some  time  ;  now  they  have  a 
comfortable  chapel  and  a  promising  society,  supplied 
by  the  Uttoxeter  preachers.  Praise  the  Lord  for  all 
His  goodness."  The  little  chapel  stands  with  gabled 
front,  facing  the  turnpike  road,  within  sight  of  the 
spot  where  Dinah  held  her  preaching.  It  has  minis- 
tered to  the  spiritual  needs  of  several  generations  of 
Methodists  in  Ellastone,  and  must  ever  be  associated 
with  the  name  of  Dinah  Morris. 

Sir  Leslie  Stephen,  in  his  recently  published  book 
on  George  Eliot,  somewhat  discounts  the  value  of  the 
portrait  given  us  of  Dinah  in  Adam  Bede,  because  she 
is  too  good  for  him.  He  thinks  perfect  characters  in 
fiction  have  a  tendency  to  be  insipid.  This  reminds 
me  of  the  Johnsonian  anecdote  in  which  we  are  told  of 
a  lady  hostess  who  boasted  to  the  great  doctor  that  she 
and  her  husband  had  lived  together  thirt3^-eight  years, 
I  think  it  was,  without  a  quarrel.  She  expected  com- 
mendation for  such  virtue,  and  was  startled  by  the 
brusque  answer:  "  ]\[adam,  how  insipid!"  It  is  a 
trifle  sad  when  angelic  goodness  in  a  woman,  whether 
in  fiction  or  in  real  life,  is  set  down  for  insipidity. 
"  She  is  a  little  too  good,"  says  Sir  Leslie,  "  not  only 
for  Seth,  but  for  this  world,  and  I  have  a  difficulty  in 
obeying  the  summons  to  fall  upon  my  knees  and  wor- 
ship."    Of  course,  this  relates  to  the  Dinah  of  fiction 


140       THE  TRUE  STORY  OF  GEORGE  ELIOT 

merely.  The  real  Dinah  had  no  illusions  about  het 
native  goodness,  but  alwa3^s  cherished  the  most 
humbling  views  of  herself ;  she  sought  no  homage: 
while  she  lived,  and  took  all  the  means  within  hen 
power  to  secure  that  none  should  be  given  to  her 
memory  when  she  was  dead.  But,  at  least,  we  may 
produce  here  some  extracts  wTitten  by  one  w^ho  knew 
the  living  prototype  of  Dinah  Morris  for  many  years. 
Mr.  Adam  Chadw^ick,  a  banker  of  Matlock  Bath,  said 
to  me  : 

*'  The  world  does  not  yet  know  the  real  excellence  of  Dinah 
Morris.  She  far  exceeded  the  presentation  of  her  goodness 
in  Adam  Bede.  I  knew  her  intimately  from  my  youth  up 
till  the  time  of  her  death,  and  I  must  sav  that  she  was  the 
most  perfect  character  I  have  ever  known.  I  have  committed 
to  writing  my  recollections  of  her ;  and,  if  I  live  long  enough, 
I  am  resolved  that  the  world  shall  know  of  her  romantic 
career  and  of  her  beneficent  labours  in  this  district  as  long 
us  strength  and  life  were  given  to  her." 

The  wish  of  this  gentleman  was  not  fulfilled.  Very 
suddenly  he  was  called  hence,  but  his  papers  have 
been  courteously  handed  to  me,  and  will  be  freely 
drawn  upon  in  the  course  of  this  history.  Among 
other  things  he  gives  us  Dinah  Morris's  dying  con- 
fession, which  show^s  that  she,  at  least,  did  not  think 
herself  the  "perfect  character"  Sir  Leslie  Stephen 
good-humouredly  dissents  from.  It  is  most  ex- 
pressive : 

"I  do  not  repent  of  anything  I  have  done  in  trying  to 
snatch  sinners  from  a  burning  hell,  only  that  I  have  not  at 
all  times  acted  wisely ;  that  I  have  not  had  more  zeal  and 
more  love.  When  I  take  a  view  of  my  past  life  I  see  that  in 
the  best  and  most  devoted  part  of  it  I  have  been  an  un- 
profitable servant ;  and  that  there  has  not  been  a  day  in 
which    I    might    not    have    done    something    more,    something 


I—  a 


140       THE  TRUE  STORY  OF  GEORGE  ELIOT 

merely.  The  real  Dinah  had  no  illusions  about  her 
native  goodness,  but  always  cherished  the  most 
humbling  views  of  herself ;  she  sought  no  homage 
while  she  lived,  and  took  all  the  means  within  her 
power  to  secure  that  none  should  be  given  to  her 
memory  when  she  was  dead.  But,  at  least,  w^e  may 
produce  here  some  extracts  written  by  one  w^ho  knew 
the  living  prototype  of  Dinah  Morris  for  many  years. 
Mr.  Adam  Chadwdck,  a  banker  of  Matlock  Bath,  said 
to  me  : 

"  The  world  does  not  yet  know  the  real  excellence  of  Dinah 
Morris.  She  far  exceeded  the  presentation  of  her  goodness 
in  Adam  Bede.  I  knew  her  intimately  from  my  youth  up 
till  the  time  of  her  death,  and  I  must  sav  that  she  was  the 
most  perfect  character  I  have  ever  known.  I  have  committed 
to  writing  my  recollections  of  her ;  and,  if  I  live  long  enough, 
1  am  resolved  that  the  world  shall  know  of  her  romantic 
career  and  of  her  beneficent  labours  in  this  district  as  long 
as  strength  and  life  were  given  to  her." 

The  wish  of  this  gentleman  was  not  fulfilled.  Very 
suddenly  he  was  called  hence,  but  his  papers  have 
been  courteously  handed  to  me,  and  will  be  freely 
drawn  upon  in  the  course  of  this  history.  Among 
other  things  he  gives  us  Dinah  Morris's  dying  con- 
fession, which  show^s  that  she,  at  least,  did  not  think 
herself  the  "perfect  character"  Sir  Leslie  Stephen 
good-humouredly  dissents  from.  It  is  most  ex- 
pressive : 

"I  do  not  repent  of  anything  I  have  done  in  trying  to 
snatch  sinners  from  a  burning  hell,  only  that  I  have  not  at 
all  times  acted  wisely ;  that  I  have  not  had  more  zeal  and 
more  love.  When  I  take  a  view  of  my  past  life  I  see  that  in 
the  best  and  most  devoted  part  of  it  I  have  been  an  un- 
profitable servant;  and  that  there  has  not  been  a  day  in 
which    I    might    not   have   done   something    more,    something 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY   I 

OF  J 


OF  "-M-:. 

UNIVERSITY 


OF 

DINAH  MORRIS  PREACHING  AT'^^^S^ioPE    143 

better  for  God.  I  have  ever  needed,  I  need  now  more  than 
ever,  and  for  ever,  the  atoning  blood.  Christ  is  all  in  all 
to  me;  and  His  favour,  His  approbation  and  smile,  the  aim, 
the  end,  the  blessedness  of  my  life." 


In  this  confession  we  have  the  very  essence  of  the 
experience  of  Dinah  Morris,  as  she  was  in  real  life. 
A  lowly  dependence  on  Christ  and  burning  zeal  for 
His  glory  were  the  moving  forces  in  her  character,  and 
service  for  others  only  ceased  with  life  itself.  After 
Dinah's  death  Mr.  Chadwick  broke  into  verse  and  his 
glowing  picture  of  this  saintly  woman  sprang,  I  know, 
from  his  heart.  Here  is  an  extract  from  the  poem 
referring  to  Dinah  Morris  : 

"There  needs  no  marble  to  record  her  name, 
Engraved  on  human  hearts,  her  deathless  fame ; 
Though  deep  among  our  hills  her  ashes  lie, 
The  memory  of  her  labours  cannot  die ; 
Voiced  down  to  ages  will  her  history  be, 
A  record  of  good  works  with  sanctity. 

All  knew  her  labours  here  for  many  years. 
Her  prayers,  her  sacrifice,  her  pleading  tears ; 
With  spirit  fired  from  God's  great  altar  high, 
For   God   to   live,    for   human   souls  to   die. 

The  words  of  Dinah,   in  our  market-place. 
Are  told  to  millions  of  the  human  race. 
And  millions  yet  unborn  will  tell  the  tale 
Of  Dinah's  labours  in  the  Wirksworth  Vale." 

These  lines  record  the  impression  produced  on  the 
mind  of  a  man  of  business  who  knew  Dinah  well  and 
survived  her  many  years,  whose  mother  was  a  devoted 
member  of  one  of  her  classes,  and  who  grew^  up  to 
manhood  himself  under  the  shadow  of  her  influence. 
While  these  articles  have  been  passing  through  the 


146       THE  TRUE  STORY  OF  GEORGE  ELIOT 

show  that  she  was  quite  as  popular  and  as  much  be- 
loved as  her  husband,  and  there  was  a  considerable 
uneasiness  in  the  minds  of  Mr.  Taft's  contemporaries; 
in  the  ministry,  including  some  of  the  leading  minis- 
ters of  the  Methodist  Conference,  in  regard  to  the 
toleration  allow^ed  her  in  her  public  ministry  among 


REV.  ZECHARIAH  TAFT,  AUTHOR  OF  "  I.IVES  OF  HOLY  WOMEN, 
AND  MRS.  TAFT,  A  FAMOUS  LADY  PREACHER. 

the  Methodist  people.  It  was  well  known  that  the 
Rev.  J.  Wesley  had  authorised,  under  what  he  desig- 
nated an  extraordinary  call,  the  public  ministration 
of  several  godly  women  known  to  him ,  who  had  shown 
exceptional  ability  and  devotion  in  the  blessed  work 
of  winning  souls.  At  first  he  would  seem  to  have 
been  doubtful,  but  experience  led  him  to  the  common- 
sense   conclusion  :    "  God   owns   women   in   the   con- 


CHAPTEE    IX 

THE    AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    DINAH    MORRIS 

"  He  the  simplest  thoughts  instils, 
He  the  mildest  rules  imparts, 
Arms  with  power  the  weakest  wills, 
Fills  with  joy  the  saddest  hearts." 

For  a  fund  of  interesting  and  authentic  information 
on  the  Hfe  and  experiences  of  Dinah  Morris  we  must 
needs  turn  to  a  somewhat  rare  book,  first  published  in 
1825,  repubhshed  later,  but  long  since  out  of  print. 
It  bears  a  ponderous  title  :  "  Biographical  Sketches 
of  the  lives  and  Public  Ministry  of  various  Holy 
Women,  whose  Eminent  Usefulness  and  Successful 
Labours  in  the  Church  of  Christ  have  entitled  them 
to  be  enrolled  among  the  great  Benefactors  of  Man- 
kind :  in  which  are  included  several  Letters  from  the 
Eev.  J.  Wesley,  never  before  published.  By  Z.  Taft. 
(The  profits  will  be  devoted  to  charitable  purposes.)  " 
The  volume  thus  quaintly  introduced  contains  323 
pages,  and  gives  particulars  of  the  lives  and  ministry 
of  forty-five  preachers  who  were  women.  The  history 
of  the  origin  of  the  book  is  somewhat  peculiar.  The 
author,  a  godly  Wesleyan  minister,  had  for  his  wife  a 
lady  of  considerable  fame  in  her  day,  who  was  not  only 
a  devout  and  exemplary  Christian,  but  an  attractive 
and  powerful  preacher.     The  accounts  we  have  of  her 

11  145 


148  THE  TRUE  STORY  OF  GEORGE  ELIOT 

the  pulpit  in  any  circumstances.  The  great  man 
also  insinuated  that  Mr.  Taft's  employment  of  his  wife 
as  a  preacher  was  a  tacit  confession  of  his  conscious- 
ness of  his  own  insufficiency  for  the  ministry.  In  spite 
of  all  this,  however,  the  preaching  still  went  on. 
Among  Mrs.  Taft's  converts  were  some  who  became 
leading  lights  in  the  Methodist  firmament. 

Of  all  the  pulpit  and  platform  orators  of  his  day, 
none  were  more  powerful  or  famous  than  the  Eev. 
Eobert  Newton,  D.D.  Of  the  local  preachers  of 

Methodism,  no  one  was  ever  more  gifted  than  the 
Yorkshire  farmer,  Mr.  William  Dawson,  who  really 
became  a  consummate  orator,  attracting  crowds  every- 
where. The  Eev.  Thomas  Jackson  was  the  recog- 
nised head  of  a  clan  of  Methodist  preachers  of  that 
name,  he  was  also  a  voluminous  author  and  a  vener- 
ated President  of  the  Conference.  All  these  were  the 
spiritual  fruits  of  the  public  ministry  of  Mrs.  Taft,  to- 
gether with  another  of  the  presidents,  and  large  num- 
bers of  equally  godly  persons  who  did  not  attain 
to  such  lofty  eminence.  This  fruitful  ministry,  as 
modest  as  it  was  effective,  could  not  be  suppressed. 
But,  in  the  Conference  of  1833,  complaint  was  n:ade 
of  it,  and  there  was  a  good  deal  of  scolding.  Dr. 
Bunting  alluded  with  some  scorn  to  the  asterisks  on 
certain  preachers'  plans,  which  represented  not  only 
the  appointments  of  Mrs.  Taft,  but  these  of  Dinah 
Morris  as  well. 

In  the  controversy  that  was  waged  over  the  preach- 
ing of  Mrs.  Taft,  one  holy  and  venerated  man- 
President  of  the  Conference  two  years  after  Mr. 
Wesley's  death— the  Eev.  John  Pawson— boldly  stood 
up  in  defence  of  her  preaching,  and  recommended  her 
employment  for  special  services.     Still,  prejudice  ran 


MRS.    SUSANNAH    WESLEY. 

Wife  of  tl;e  Vicar  of  Epworth,  the  first  of  the  Methoc'ist  Lac'.y  Preachers. 

From  a  painting  by  J.  W.  L.  Forster. 


^j3l^>^^<  V 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   DINAH   MORRIS       151 

high,  many  official  Methodists  were  opposed,  and  so 
Mr.  Taft  pubhshed  his  book,  as  he  tells  his  readers, 
' '  to  offer  a  little  encouragement  to  female  preachers 
in  general  "  ;  and,  as  anyone  can  see,  to  put  the  case 
of  these  preachers  in  as  favourable  a  light  as  possible, 


-.. 

* 

V 

^^^^^^ 

7    ^                       _   Nu^^Ei 

^^^L 

,# 

Hi 

InH^I 

■HHHUliMl 

THE    ROUND    HOUSE    AT    WORTHIXilTOX,    LEICESTERSHIRE. 


both  on  Scriptural  grounds,  and  also  on  the  plea  of 
manifest  success  in  the  conversion  of  souls.  He  cites 
with  pride  the  manifold  examples  of  the  showing  forth 
through  the  instrumentality  of  consecrated  women  of 
that  abiding  miracle  of  Christianity— the  changed 
hearts  and  lives  of  sinful  men  and  women.  The 
answer  of  the  blind  man,  whom  our  Lord  healed  in 
Jerusalem,  naturally  comes  to  mind  :  "  Why  herein  is 


152      THE   TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

a  marvellous  thing,  that  ye  know  not  from  whence  He 
is,  and  yet  He  hath  opened  mine  eyes."  So  Mr.  Taft 
appears  to  say  :  Here  are  hundreds  of  converts  won 
to  the  Church  by  the  preaching  of  women,  and  yet  you 
in  your  rigid  zeal  would  forbid  them.  The  argument 
from  Scripture  is  not  all  on  one  side.  You  have  mis- 
understood Paul,  and  by  your  narrow  interpretations 
of  the  Word,  would  limit  the  workings  of  the  Holy 
Spirit  and  fight  against  God.  This,  in  a  few  words,  is 
the  point  of  view  of  the  introduction  to  Mr.  Taft's 
book,  and  this  is  the  argument  running  through  all  his 
sketches. 

The  first  deals  with  that  wonderful  woman,  Mrs. 
Susannah  Wesley.  The  second  relates  to  another 
truly  great  woman,  the  saintly  wife  of  the  Eev.  John 
Fletcher,  vicar  of  Madeley.  The  public  ministry  of 
both  these  wives  of  beneficed  clergymen  was  un- 
doubtedly irregular,  but,  as  is  shown  in  Mr.  Taft's 
memoirs,  it  was  a  ministry  of  great  spiritual  power 
and  blessed  fruitfulness  to  many  people.  In  the  selec- 
tion of  his  examples  of  female  usefulness  in  preaching 
Mr.  Taft  was  eminently  catholic.  They  were  not  all 
Methodists  by  any  means.  Some  were  taken  from  the 
Society  of  Friends,  some  from  the  Congregationahsts, 
and  one  was  a  titled  Kussian  lady,  the  Baroness  de 
Krudener.  Of  this  devoted  woman  we  are  told  that 
in  her  self-denying  zeal  she  prosecuted  evangelistic 
labours  in  her  own  country,  in  France  and  in  Switzer- 
land, that  she  was  most  beneticient  in  the  employment 
of  her  large  fortune,  but  that,  like  the  women 
preachers  in  England,  she  was  everywhere  opposed  by 
officials  in  the  churches,  who  thought  that  such  exer- 
cises were  an  infraction  of  ecclesiastical  order  and  a 
breach  of  apostolic   discipline.        The   sketch   of  the 


M. 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   DINAH   MORRIS       153 

Baroness  is  the  sixteenth  in  Mr.  Taft's  collection,  and 
that  of  Dinah  Morris  is  the  seventeenth.  The  whole 
volume  ^lows  with  the  fires  of  intense  zeal  and  fervent 
piety.  The  style  is  often  rugged  and  homely,  but  no 
one  can  read  the  book  without  feeling  the  sublime 
reality   of  the   lives   it   presents   to   us,   and   without 


CHURCH    AT    WORTHINGTOX, 
Where  Elizabeth  Tomlinson  (Dinah  Morris)  was  christened. 


gammg  new  impressions  of  the  immense  possibilities 
to  be  realised  by  giving  unfettered  freedom  to  the  work 
of  the  God-inspired  female  evangelist. 

In  the  account  of  Dinah  Morris,  the  subject  is 
allowed  to  tell  her  own  story,  which  she  does  in 
thirteen  closely-printed  pages.  She  had  been  lon^s^ 
known  to  the  compiler.  Indeed,  in  that  very  incident 
in  the  aunt's  life  which  became,  according  to  George 


154     THE   TRUE   STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

Eliot,  the  germ  of  Adam  Bede,  Mr.  Taft  was,  as  we 
shall  see,  brought  into  very  close  relation  with 
Dinah  Morris.  For  several  years  he  was  her 
minister  in  Nottingham.  More  than  twenty  years  after 
this,  his  book  was  published,  and  he  winds  up  his 
sketch  of  her  after  this  fashion  :  "  I  might  have  detain- 
ed the  reader,  and  that  very  profitably,  w^ith  a  larger 
portion  of  the  labours  and  experience  of  this  pious  and 
useful  woman,  and  I  might  have  stated  from  my  own 
personal  knowledge,  and  from  other  sources,  which  her 
modesty  and  humility  would  not  allow  her  to  record, 
many  interesting  facts  showing  that  she  has  been  and 
now  is  a  person  whom  the  Lord  delights  to  honour." 

I  think  I  know  what  Mr.  Taft  meant  by  his  in- 
teresting and  striking  facts.  Throughout  the  life  of 
Dinah  Morris  there  runs  a  vein  of  the  miraculous.  In- 
deed, more  or  less,  this  element  manifests  itself  in 
well-nigh  all  the  sketches  contained  in  his  book. 

One  might  well  inquire  whether  George  Eliot  knew 
this  quaint  old  volume.  I  cannot  speak  with  assurance 
on  this  point,  but  I  am^  certain  that  it  w^as  well  known 
in  the  Evans  family  :  it  was  immensely  prized  by  my 
grandmother  and  my  mother,  w^ho  handed  it  to  me, 
and,  judging  from  probabilities,  I  have  no  doubt 
George  Eliot  knew  it  well,  and  that  it  has  coloured  her 
portrait  of  Dinah  Morris.  I  feel  certain  that  one  of 
the  early  copies  would  find  its  way  to  Griff  House  while 
George  Eliot  w^as  yet  an  inquiring  and  wondering 
child.  At  all  events,  the  book  is  positive  proof  that 
the  aunt,  on  whom  George  Eliot  has  conferred  a  bene- 
ficent immortality,  was  famous  in  the  eyes  of  many 
thousands  of  Methodist  people  long  before  Adam  Bede 
had  taken  shape  in  her  mind. 

Our  recital  concerning  the  book  will  serve  to  show 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY   OF   DINAH   MORRIS       155 

how  the  sketch  suppHed  by  Mr.  Taft  will  assist  us  in 
pursuing  the  life-story  of  the  real  Dinah  Morris.  We 
have  solid  ground  to  go  upon,  and  our  narrative  will  be 
found  to  be  full  of  interest. 

In  Dinah  Morris's  autobiographical  statement  the 
first  note  struck  is  one  of  blended  duty  and  humility  : 

"  For  a  long  time  I  have  felt  it  more  or  less  my  duty  to 
write  a  short  account  of  my  unprofitable  hfe,  but  it  is  with 
great  difficulty  I  make  a  beginning.  However,  in  the  fear  of 
the  Lord,  and,  I  trust,  with  a  single  eye  to  His  glory  I  at 
last  submit  to  take  up  my  pen.  I  was  born  at  Newbold,  in 
Leicestershire,  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1776." 

The  place  here  named  is  a  township  of  the  parish  of 
Worthington,  four  and  a  half  miles  north  of  Ashby  de 
la  Zouch.  It  is  a  quiet  rural  spot  in  the  midst  of  an 
undulating  pastoral  country,  where,  until  recent  years, 
agriculture  was  almost  the  only  employment.  Xow 
there  are  large  brickyards  in  the  parish,  and  coal  mines 
in  the  neighbourhood.  The  church  of  St.  Matthew  is 
a  plain  old-fashioned  structure,  formerly  a  chapel-of- 
ease  to  the  parish  of  Bredon-on-the-Hill.  At 
Worthington  there  is  an  interesting  relic  of  former 
days  in  the  shape  of  a  round-house  or  lock-up. 
Formerly  no  considerable  parish  w^as  thought  to  be 
complete  without  its  round-house,  its  stocks,  and  its 
whipping-post.  Sometimes  the  lock-up  was  styled  the 
blind-house,  because  it  was  built  without  windows. 
Such  is  the  one  at  Worthington.  It  is  a  quaint  struc- 
ture, appearing,  at  a  distance,  like  a  low,  tapering 
pedestal,  and  has  very  narrow  accommodations.  It 
was  a  place  for  the  temporary  detention  of  prisoners, 
but,  like  all  other  such  places,  has  long  been  disused. 
Very  few  of  them  have  been  allowed  to  remain. 
Modern  improvements  have  dealt  rudely  with  old  in- 


153 


THE  TRUE  STOEY  OF  GEORGE  ELIOT 


stitutions.  In  times  which  I  can  well  remember  many, 
small  boroughs  had  their  jail  and  treadmill,  and  one 
can  scarcely  wish  them  back  again.  We  can  hardly 
congratulate  ourselves  on  our  freedom  from  crime,  as: 
a  whole,  but  if,  in  addition  to  educating  our  young 


WESLEYAX    CHAPEL,    GRIFFY    DAM. 


people,  the  manifest  determination  to  lessen  the  temp- 
tations to  indulgence  in  strong  drink  should  take  effect . 
as  appearances  seem  to  promise,  we  may  confidently 
anticipate  a  marked  diminution  of  crime  in  the  near 
future. 

At  the  distance  of  a  short  walk  from  Worthington 
and  Newbold,  across  a  pleasant  vale  and  water-brook, 
there  is  situated  the  hamlet  of  Griffy  Dam,  or  as  it 
undoubtedly  was  named,  originally,  Griffith's  Dam. 
Iq   this   hamlet   there  is   a   good-sized,   old-fashiontd 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF     DINAH    MORRIS     157 

Wesleyan  chapel,  with  a  considerable  graveyard 
attached  to  it,  in  which  Dinah  Morris's  father 
was  interred  in  virtue  of  his  own  request.  In  this  very 
chapel  she  heard  sermons  when  only  seven  or  eight 
years  old  which  she  never  forgot,  and  in  her  auto- 
biography mentioned  the  texts  on  which  they  were 
founded.  In  after  life  she  always  declared  that  even 
at  that  early  period  God  was  speaking  to  her  young 
heart.  Her  father,  she  tells  us,  was  a  sincere  church- 
man, who  was  extremely  moral  and  upright,  who 
loathed  every  kind  of  untruthfulness  and  dishonesty, 
and  strove  to  train  his  children  according  to  the  hght 
that  w^as  in  him,  but  fell  short,  as  she  thought,  of  a  per- 
sonal religious  experience.  In  later  years  paralysis 
overtook  him,  when  he  received  visits  from  the  friends 
at  the  chapel,  and  even  had  prayer  meetings  in  his 
own  house.  It  was  in  consequence  of  this  that  he  de- 
sired interment  in  the  chapel  burial-ground.  His 
daughter  cherished  every  hope  in  the  father's  spiritual 
condition  in  his  later  years,  as  she  had  every  reason  to 
do.  The  mother  w^as  one  of  those  awakened  souls  who 
walked  truly  according  to  the  things  she  knew,  longed 
earnestly  for  a  light  she  had  not  found,  and  yearned 
in  spirit  for  an  assurance  which  only  came  to  her 
almost  with  her  dying  breath.  Both  father  and  mother 
were  worthy  people,  children  of  toil,  simple,  godly. 
Christian  village  residents,  peaceful  and  orderly  in  all 
their  ways.  The  father's  .name  was  Thomas  Tomlin- 
son — the  mother  was  suddenly  snatched  away  while 
her  baby  was  still  in  its  first  year.  In  his  reminis- 
cences of  Dinah  Morris,  gathered  mostly  from  her 
own  lips,  Mr.  Chadwick  tells  us  that  the  mother, 
conscious  of  approaching  death,  committed  her  darling 
babe  to  her  God,  and  solemnly  devoted  her  to  His 


158      THE   TRUE   STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

service.  The  recital  of  the  events  of  the  mother's 
death  deeply  influenced  her  whole  life.  From  tender 
years  she  was  told  that  she  was  God's  child,  and  be- 
longed to  Him  by  the  holy  consecration  of  a  dying 
mother's  prayers. 

A  singular  occurrence  is  mentioned  in  her  account  of 
the  mother's  death,  related  with  much  brevity  and 
modesty,  as  became  Dinah  Morris.  I  have,  however, 
heard  some  amphfications  of  that  account  from  family 
sources  which  enable  me  to  fill  up  the  outlines  of  the 
narrative.  We  are,  then,  to  suppose  the  dying  woman 
rapidly  approaching  her  end,  with  a  deep  yearning  in 
her  soul  for  spiritual  manifestations  she  had  not  re- 
ceived. There  was  no  one  about  her  who  could  im- 
part the  instruction  for  which  she  was  longing.  She 
seems  to  have  been  more  or  less  shut  out  from  contact 
with  outward  things  by  approaching  dissolution  when 
an  unexpected  visitor  arrived.  Thomas  Tomlinson 
had  a  cousin  living  at  a  distance  of  some  miles,  who 
was  a  devoted  Methodist.  On  the  day  of  Mrs.  Tom- 
linson's  decease  this  cousin  had  an  irresistible  impres- 
sion that  he  must  go  and  visit  his  friends  at  Xewbold, 
although  he  knew  of  no  reason  why  he  should  do  so, 
as  he  had  received  no  tidings  of  the  illness  of  his 
relative.  He  obeyed  this  unaccountable  impression, 
and  found  her  in  extremis.  Nevertheless,  he  tenderly 
addressed  her  in  the  blessed  language  of  the  old,  old 
story,  and  she  revived  on  hearing  it,  received  it  with 
glad  thanksgiving,  saying:  "The  Lord  Jesus  Christ 
has  sent  you  here  to  show  me  the  way  of  salvation." 
It  was  then  she  was  able  to  devote  her  child  to  the 
service  of  Heaven,  and  shortly  afterwards  died  in 
peace.  The  story  of  the  mother's  death  was  often  re- 
lated by  Dinah  Morris  to  her  chosen  friends,  among 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    DINAH    MORRIS      159 

others  to  my  mother.  She  believed  that  the  impres- 
sion so  mysteriously  fixed  in  the  mind  of  the  cousin  to 
visit  the  home  at  Newbold  was  a  divine  intimation,  as 
surely  as  was  the  vision  which  prepared  the  Apostle 


GENERAL    VIEW    OF    GRIFFV    DAM,    WORTHIXGTOX. 


Peter  to  carry  the  blessed  evangel  to  Cornelius  and 
his  household  at  Ctesarea. 

She  also  believed  in  miraculous  impressions  in 
general,  including  dreams  and  visions,  which  had  come 
to  her,  to  be  her  guide  and  comfort  in  various  exi- 
gencies of  her  life  and  ministrations.  Many  narratives 
of  such  things  were  suppressed  by  her  on  the  ground 
that  they  would  be  misunderstood,  and  therefore  would 
not  tend  to  edification.  To  herself  they  w^ere  all  in- 
tensely real,  hence  the  supernatural  manifestation,  as 
she  believed  it,  in  the  case  of  her  mother,  was  but  the 


160     THE    TEDE    STORY    OF   GEORGE    ELIOT 

I 
first  of  a  chain  of  Providences  which  extended  through 

the  whole  of  her  hfe.  All  through  this  set  of  memoirs 
by  Mr.  Taft,  there  runs  this  consciousness  of  direct 
personal  touch  with  things  unseen.  Clairvoyance, 
Telepathy,  and  Ps3^chic  research  have  made  it  less  pos- 
sible in  these  modern  days  to  be  altogether  unbelieving 
as  to  the  existence  of  supernatural  phenomena.  On 
the  spiritual  side  we  appear  to  be  surrounded  by  a 
world  of  mystery,  miracle  and  w^onder.  Surely  there 
is  a  rebound  from  the  hard  materiahsm  of  a  genera- 
tion ago.  The  early  Methodists  had  no  hesitation  in 
accepting  manifestations  of  the  marvellous.  Their 
great  leader,  one  of  the  mightiest  of  men,  firmly  be- 
lieved that  the  life  we  live  in  the  flesh  is  encompassed 
about  by  spiritual  existences,  whose  presence  is  not 
ordinarily  recognised  by  our  bodily  senses.  How  well 
I  remember  his  "  Signs  from  the  Invisible  World," 
which  I  read  when  I  was  a  boy.  The  weird  stories 
fastened  on  my  imagination,  and  haunted  me  for  many 
a  year,  until  every  hedge-row  and  hill-side  was  peopled 
by  apparitions.  That  feeling  has  long  since  been 
shaken  off,  but  in  these  later  days  of  life  one  has  come 
to  be  more  and  more  conscious  of  the  near  touch  of 
unseen  powers. 

Concerning  unaccountable  impressions  of  the  mind 
which  have  had  an  important  bearing  on  after  events 
there  have  been  many  authenticated  examples.  One  of 
the  most  striking  out  of  many  I  have  met  with  is 
related  of  a  gentleman  who  was  a  member  of  the 
Society  of  Friends.  The  story  is  given  on  the  author- 
ity of  a  former  Prebendary  of  Hereford.  It  tells  how 
that  one  Thomas  Waring,  of  Leominster,  had  an  im- ; 
pression  that  he  must  set  off  immediately  to  the  town 
of  Ross,  which  was  thirty  miles  away.     He  tried  to  get 


AUTOBIOGRAPHY    OF    DINAH    MORRIS      161 

rid  of  the  impression  without  effect,  and  having 
ordered  the  saddHng  of  his  horse,  started  out  on  his 
long  journey  at  four  o'clock  of  the  afternoon.  It  was 
late  when  he  reached  Eoss,  but  seeing  a  light  in  an 
upper  room  of  a  house  he  felt  constrained  to  knock  at 
the  door,  and  waited  long  for  admittance.  At  last  a 
young  woman  appeared  and  asked  what  he  pleased  to 
want.  He  told  her  he  did  not  know,  but  if  she  would 
listen  to  what  he  had  to  say  perhaps  she  might  explain 
it.  She  invited  him  in ;  he  told  his  story  to  her,  con- 
cluding with  the  words  :  "  And  having  told  thee  this, 
I  can  only  repeat  that  I  do  not  know  for  what  I  am 
come."  The  young  woman  burst  into  tears,  and  then 
said  :  "  Sir,  I  can  tell  you  for  w^hat  you  are  come,  for 
I  was  gone  into  that  upper  room  with  the  intention  of 
putting  an  end  to  my  life,  which  has  become  very 
miserable.  Nothing  would  have  prevented  me  from 
committing  suicide  had  you  not  come.  God  has  sent 
you.  I  now  see  that  I  am  not  altogether  forsaken  or 
abandoned  by  Him." 

The  account  of  the  impression  on  this  good  old 
Quaker's  mind  closely  resembles  that  which  led  Dinah 
]^Iorris's  relative  to  visit  her  dying  mother.  Well 
might  the  father's  story  influence  the  child's 
wondering  thoughts. 

None  could  know  what  should  be  the  future  of  that 
frail,  motherless  child.  But  at  least  w^e  may  conclude 
that  the  loving-kindness  of  the  Heavenly  Shepherd  re- 
vived the  spirit  of  the  departing  mother,  as  we  know  it 
shed  through  life  a  radiant  light  on  the  offspring  she 
loved  so  well.  Truly  the  mother's  dying  prayer  to  God 
was  answered,  and  her  babe  was  in  reality  given  to  be 
His  child  for  ever. 


12 


CHAPTEE  X 

DINAH    MORRIS,    FROM   BABYHOOD   TO    WOMANHOOD 

''The  baby  has  no  skies 

But  mother's  eyes, 

Nor  any  God  above 

But  mother's  love. 
His  angel  sees  the  Father's  face, 
But  he  the  mother's,   full  of  grace ; 
And  yet  the  heavenly  kingdom  is 

Of  such  as  this." — John  iS.  Tabb. 

The  infant,  Elizabeth  Tomlinson — the  future  Dinah 
Morris — was  only  given  to  dwell  one  short  year  in  the 
restful  heaven  of  a  mother's  love.  The  loss  of  the 
mother  coloured  all  her  memories  of  childhood  : 
"  What  I  have  suffered  through  the  loss  of  my  dear 
mother  can  only  be  explained  in  eternity,  but  the 
L/ord's  ways  are  in  the  whirlwind,  and  what  we  know 
not  now  we  shall  know  hereafter."  Much  is  veiled 
under  that  pious  sentiment.  She  is  reticent  and  does 
not  care  to  say  more,  still  there  is  no  difficulty  in 
understanding  what  was  in  her  mind.  Her  father 
married  a  second  time,  and  the  stress  and  strain  of  life 
in  those  hard  times  and  in  that  village  home  were 
heav}^  enough  to  bear.  As  to  the  outward  circum- 
stances of  the  child  we  find  scarcely  a  mention ,  but  her 
inner  life  stands  full}^  revealed  to  us.  Putting  to- 
gether the  reminiscences  gathered  by  Mr.  A.  Chadwick 
and  the  words  of  the  autobiography,  we  may  conclude 
that  the  father  took  his  little  girl  with  him 
to     the     parish     church     betimes,     and     set     before 


BABYHOOD   TO   WOMANHOOD 


163 


her  a  good  example.  His  Methodist  cousin 
■also  cared  for  the  spiritual  training  of  the 
child,  and  it  was  the  seed  sown  at  the  services  in 
the  Griffy  Dam  Wesleyan  Chapel  which  took  root  in 
the  young  heart.       Her  recollections  were  very  clear 


ONE  OF  THE  LAST  WORN  OF  ELIZABETH  EVANS*  (dLNAH  MORRIS")  BONNETS. 


as  to  the  impressions  wrought  on  her  mind,  even  as 
early  as  her  seventh  year  and  onward.  In  her  auto- 
biography she  actually  recalls  sermons  she  heard  at 
that  period,  and  states  the  topics  on  w^hich  the  dis- 
courses were  founded.  It  is  not  difficult  to  imagine 
the  innocent  maiden  of  seven,  with  eyes  intent  and  a 
look  of  sublime  wonder  on  her  face,  as  the  preacher 


164      THE    TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT 

expounded  from  the  thrilling,  parable  of  the  rich  man 
and  Lazarns  the  terrors  of  an  eternity  without  love 
and  the  dread  future  for  every  soul  who  has  lived  in 
this  world  for  nothing  beyond  the  sensual  gratification 
of  carnal  appetites.  The  sermon,  though  not  intended 
by  the  preacher  for  this  captivated  little  one,  has  found 
lodgement  in  her  soul  for  ever.  It  was  well  for  the 
young  child  that  another  side  of  the  future  life  was 
proclaimed  in  her  hearing.  "  For  here  have  w^e  no 
continuing  city,  but  we  seek  one  to  come  "  (Heb. 
xiii.  14),  formed  the  theme  of  another  discourse  she 
remembered  quite  well,  more  pleasing,  one  would 
think,  if  not  more  fascinating,  than  the  other.  0, 
preachers  of  the  eighteenth  century,  in  that  Methodist 
chapel  in  the  hamlet  of  Griffy  Dam,  you  toiled  wearily 
enough  in  your  work  in  that  country  congregation. 
You  sighed  with  intensity  of  desire  for  the  people's 
welfare  and  went  away  with  agonised  disappointment 
sometimes,  because  so  little  had  been  accomplished. 
At  the  listlessness  of  many  of  your  hearers  you  were 
pained,  but  you  never  noticed  the  fixed  gaze  of  the 
little  maiden  who  was  all  intent  in  wondering  at  your 
words,  nor  did  you  realise  that  you  had  sown  deep 
down  in  the  fruitful  soil  of  her  spiritual  nature  potent 
seeds  which  were  one  day  to  bear  fruit  in  a  beautiful 
life  and  help  to  fertilise  a  barren  world.  Even  of 
preaching  it  ma}^  often  be  said  : 

*'  Oh,  many  a  shaft  at  random  sent 
Finds  mark  the  archer  little  meant." 

Notwithstanding  her  tender  age  the  child  has  her 
speculations  concerning  preaching.  Telling  us  of  what 
she  felt  to  be  the  work  of  the  Divine  Spirit  in  her 
heart,  she  says  : 


BABYHOOD   TO   WOMANHOOD 


165 


"  He  blessed  me  with  clear  light  concerning  the  nature  of 
preaching.  I  saw  that  reading  was  not  preaching.  I  thought 
I  could  read  a  sermon  and  yet  I  could  not  preach,  and  that 
it  was  not  the  way  that  God  intended  that  men  should  preach 
the  Gospel.  I  was  powerfully  impressed  with  a  sense  of  the 
shortness  of  time  and  the  awful  consequences  of  dying  in  sin." 


ELIZABETH    EVANS    (DINAH    MOKRISj    AUNT    OF    GEORGE    ELIOT. 


We  find  that,  though  so  young  in  years,  these  serious 
convictions  never  wore  away  till  the  great  crisis  in  her 
spiritual  life  had  come.     I  have  noticed  that  in  the 


166     THE   TRUE   STORY  OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

lives  of  good  men  and  holy  women,  spiritual  exercises 
are  not  at  all  unusual  in  tender  years.  It  is  a  touching 
picture  Dinah  Morris  draws  for  us,  and  one  that  sug- 
gests the  reflection  that  teachers  and  preachers  can 
hardly  be  too  much  concerned  for  the  patient  instruc- 
tion of  the  little  ones.  There  are  j^earnings  in  their 
young  hearts  of  which  we  are  but  faintly  conscious. 
We  do  not,  any  of  us,  fully  realise  the  possibilities  of 
child-life,  and  hence  we  too  frequently  fail  to  render 
that  real  help  our  youthful  charge  requires  at  our 
hands. 

"  The  Lord  continued  to  strive  with  mo  and  to  keep  mo 
from  falling  into  many  grievous  sins  which  were  both  evil  and 
bitter.  I  used  to  say  my  prayers  and  strictly  examine  myself 
by  the  law  of  Moses  every  night.  I  always  felt  myself  con- 
demned from  these  words :  '  Thou  shalt  not  take  the  name  of 
the  Lord  thy  God  in  vain.'  I  saw  that  he  who  offendeth  in 
one  point  is  guilty  of  all.  These  words  were  most  powerfully 
impressed  on  my  mind :  '  Cursed  is  everyone  that  continuetli 
not  in  all  things  that  are  written  in  the  book  of  the  law  to 
do  them,'  and  what  to  do  I  knew  not.  I  wept  and  prayed  and 
tried  to  find  the  living  way,  though  I  was  lost  and  confused, 
dark  and  blind.  Oh,  how  I  longed  for  instruction,  but  had 
no  one  to  take  me  by  the  hand,  or,  I  believe,  at  that  time, 
I  should  have  been  brought  to  the  knowledge  of  the  truth. 
Oh,  how  I  prayed  the  publican's  prayer :  '  God  be  merciful  to 
me  a  sinner  !'  I  had  some  faint  views  of  Christ  coming  into 
the  world  to  save  sinners,  but  how  I  was  to  be  saved  by  Him 
I  could  not  tell.  I  wandered  in  the  dark,  sinning  and 
repenting  for  a  long  time." 

The  dawning  of  spiritual  truth  on  the  young  mind 
is  a  deep  psychological  mystery.  Here  we  have  a  little 
girl  growing  up  amidst  the  blooming  of  flowers  and  the 
singing  of  birds  in  the  country.  She  is  without  any 
special  instruction  suited  to  the  mind  of  a  child.  At 
this  very  time  Robert  Eaikes  is  but  just  commencing 


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EXTRACT  FROM  A  LETTER  FROM  ROBERT   EVAXS  (aDAM    BEDE)  TO 
SAMUEL    EVAXS    (SETH    BEDE.) 


>^     OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF  / 


BABYHOOD  TO  WOMANHOOD       169 

his  experiment  of  teaching  the  idle  youth  of  the  city 
of  Gloucester  in  a  Sunday  School,  and  it  was  long, 
long  years  before  such  institutions  had  found  their  way 
into  the  country  districts  of  Leicestershire ,  and  yet  the 
infant  mind  of  this  rural  cottager  is  revolving  high 
truths  of  revelation,  drinking  in  spiritual  instruction 
from  the  pulpit,  examining  and  condemning  herself 
by  the  word  of  God,  and  only  falls  short  of  personal 
application  of  the  pardoning  grace  of  the  Saviour  be- 
cause, as  she  declared  years  afterwards,  there  was  no 
one  to  teach  her  how  to  make  that  application  in  her 
own  case. 

These  early  experiences  of  Dinah  Morris,  as  recorded 
by  Mr.  Taft,  do  not  stand  alone  in  the  sketches  he 
has  drawn  for  us.  He  lets  us  see  how  Mrs.  Susannah 
Wesley  and  Mrs.  Fletcher  of  Madeley  had  similar 
mental  exercises  in  childhood.  His  sketches  are  neces- 
sarily fragmentary — in  some  cases  especially  so — but 
where  particulars  are  given  we  find  often  recurring 
testimony  of  as  clear  and  vivid  rehgious  impression  im- 
parted in  childhood  as  could  ever  be  received  at  any 
subsequent  period  of  life.  In  some  cases  Mr.  Taft 
selects  his  examples  from  amongst  the  members  of  the 
Society  of  Friends,  and  finds  this  feature  strongly 
marked  in  them,  but  in  others,  with  very  imperfect 
instruction,  it  is  precisely  the  same.  Two  instances 
are  given  wherein  spiritual  yearnings  were  felt  and 
deep  impressions  made  on  the  heart  at  as  early  an  age  as 
four  years,  and  never  afterwards  effaced  as  long  as  life 
endured.  Many  of  these  holy  women,  I  am  sure,  could 
have  exclaimed  with  the  still  remembered  authoress, 
Mrs.  Elizabeth  Eowe  :  "  My  infant  hands  were  early 
lifted  up  to  Thee,  and  I  soon  learned  to  acknowledge 
the  God  of  my  fathers."     Christian  biography  teems 


170     THE   TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

with  examples  of  a  clear  divine  call,  while  as  yet  the 
heart  was  tender.  Records  of  the  lives  of  the  saints  of 
the  old  time  furnish  many  instructive  examples. 
Legends  of  patristic  literature  are  crowded  with  them, 
behind  which  there  must  be  much  that  is  real.  Let 
me  give  a  collection  of  the  names  of  men,  taken  almost 
at  random,  wlcio  have  attained  to  distinction,  whose  re- 
ligious experience  dates  back  to  the  days  of  early  child- 
hood. Among  them  are  Dr.  Jonathan  Edwards,  David 
Brainerd,  Count  Zinzendorf,  George  Whitfield,  Dr. 
Isaac  Watts,  Dr.  Philip  Doddridge,  John  Foster, 
Albert  Bengel,  etc.  From  w^hat  has  been  witnessed  of 
children  in  every  Christian  country  one  can  see  that  a 
powerful  book  might  be  written  revealing  the  vast 
possibilities  and  the  beautiful  reality  of  Christian  child- 
hood. From  such  a  volume  those  who  have  to  deal 
with  children  might  learn  much  hopefulness  in 
their  task. 

In  Mr.  Taft's  sketch  of  Dinah  Morris  there  are  no 
other  details  of  her  childhood  than  those  here  given. 
As  to  education  there  were  only  the  scant  elements 
and  these  imperfectly  taught.  Newbold  has  now  its 
fairly  equipped  schools,  maintained  for  the  most  part 
at  the  charges  of  the  State.  It  has  its  trained  instruc- 
tors also.  Books  were  scant  then,  school  attendance 
fitful;  Elizabeth  was  the  eldest  child,  the  pressure  on 
the  home  was  severe,  and  at  fourteen  years  of  age  she 
had  to  take  her  place  among  the  ranks  of  the  workers, 
that  she  might  earn  her  own  livelihood  by  becoming  a 
domestic  servant.  In  this  she  recognised  a  gracious 
Providence. 


"  I  believe  the  hand  of  God  has  been  upon  me  all  the  days 
of  my  life.     I  believe  the  Lord  directed  me  to  leave  my  father's 


BABYHOOD  TO  WOMANHOOD      171 

house  when  I  was  little  more  than  fourteen  years  old.  I  lived 
at  Derby  about  seven  years  with  a  family  that  knew  very 
little  more  about  religion  than  myself.  We  had  plenty  of 
prayer-books  and  saying  of  prayers,  but  very  little  heart-felt 
religion." 

To  her  apprehension  vital  godHness  began  with  a  de- 
finite personal  experience,  including  confession  of  sin 
in  the  presence  of  the  Lord,  faith  in  the  atoning  mercy 
of  the  Redeemer,  regeneration  by  a  mysterious  divine 
energy,  and  a  definite  consecration  of  body,  soul  and 
spirit  to  the  living  God.  This  it  was  that  she  secretly 
longed  for,  but  knew  not  how  to  find,  in  spite  of  the 
powerful  strivings  in  childhood.  She  intimates  that 
her  privileges  in  Derby  were  not  such  as  to  lead  her  in- 
to the  experiences  she  coveted,  but  there  came  a  change 
when  she  was  nearing  her  twenty-first  year.  She  bade 
farewell  to  domestic  service  and  became  a  lace-mender 
in  the  town  of  Nottingham.  Probably  this  trade  defini- 
tion will  convey  no  definite  idea  to  the  reader's 
mind.  Lace-mending  is  an  important  process  in  lace 
manufacture.  The  fragile  threads  from  which 
the  material  is  woven  frequently  give  way 
while  a  piece  is  passing  through  the  looms,  or 
in  the  process  of  dressing,  therefore  each  piece  of  lace 
must  needs  go  from  the  machine  to  the  lace-mender  to 
have  the  pattern  restored  where  it  is  broken  and  the 
piece  made  perfect.  The  women  employed  in  this 
skilled  industry  are  as  smart  a^d  clever  a  set  of  female 
artisans  as  are  anywhere  to  be  found.  Here  Dinah 
iMorris  graduated  in  the  industry,  but  her  mind  was  not 
at  rest.  Her  privileges  were  enlarged,  and  her  hfe 
more  free,  yet  circumstances  seemed  to  conspire  to 
keep  her  back  from  the  prize  she  coveted  above  all 
others. 


172      THE   TRUE    STORY  OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

"  I  loved  the  Methodists,  and  always  believed  that  if  ever 
I  was  religious  I  should  be  one,  but  1  had  no  acquaintance 
with  any  of  them.  The  tears  I  have  shed  on  this  account  are 
known  only  to  the  Lord.  I  had  now  left  service,  and  was  at 
liberty  to  serve  God,  but  I  had  reasoned  for  a  few  weeks  with 
the  enemy  of  my  soul.  I  thought  I  never  was  happy,  but  I 
would  be  if  possible.  I  sometimes  went  to  the  giddy  dance, 
sometimes  to  card-playing,  shameful  to  tell  after  such  re- 
peated convictions  for  sin,  but  I  could  not  find  what  I  sought 
for — happiness.     I  only  grew  more  and  more  miserable." 


"There  is  in  man,"  says  George  Eliot,  "a  higher  aim 
than  love  of  happiness  :  he  can  do  without  happiness, 
and  instead  thereof  find  blessedness."    It  is  a  strange 
paradox,  and  yet  true,  when  we  say  that  they  who  chase 
after  happiness  never  find  it,  but  to  them  who  take 
their  cross  and  pursue  the  paths  of  duty  and  service'' 
happiness  comes  without  the  seeking.     Dinah  Morris's  i 
search  for  happiness  in  the   diversions  of  the  giddy  | 
dance  and  the  fascinating  card-table  did  not  last  long.  , 
The  thirst  of  her  soul  could  not  be  slaked  in  any  such 
pursuits,  but  she  was  soon  to  find  true  blessedness. 
On  the  Easter  Tuesday  in  1797  she  went  to  a  place 
called  Beck  Barn  to  hear  preaching  by  a  Wesleyan 
minister  who  had  recently  returned  from  Newfound-  i 
land — the  Rev.  George  Smith.       The  mention  of  this  \ 
preaching  place  in  Nottingham  calls  to  mind  the  first  i 
great  Methodist  secession.       "  Our  people  were  turned  i 
out  of  their  chapel  through  Kilham's  division,"  wrote  \ 
Dinah  Morris.  The  fact  was  that  the  secession  occurred  j 
through  the  rejection  by  the  Conference  of  a  petition 
to  allow  the  Methodist  people  to  have  the  sacraments 
administered  in  all  their  places  of  worship  by  their  own 
ministers  instead  of,  as  in  Wesley's  days,  going  for 
them  to  the  ministry  of  the  established  church,  and 
through  the  expulsion  of  the  chief  mover — the  Rev. 

I 


A  <</ 


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>'-'-  ,.,./...   1    yy.,  .  ^/,,^  /,..,,    ,,,...      ^      .,    ^ 


EXTRACT    FROM    A    LETTER    FROM    ELIZABETH    EVANS    (dIXAH    MORRIS) 
TO    OXE    OF   HER   DAUGHTERS   AWAY   FROM    HOME. 


V-  OF  THE 


OF  .    _     / 
BABYHOOD   TO   WOMANHOC^P^^"^      175 


k 


Alexander  Ivilham.  Wesley's  idea  of  his  Denomina- 
tion was  that  of  a  Society  within  the  established 
church.  Kilham  desired  to  precipitate  the  inevitable 
movement  which  was  to  separate  the  one  from  the 
other  and  to  constitute  the  great  Methodist  body  as  a 
distinctive,  self-contained  Christian  community.  Pro- 
bably his  methods  were  not  altogether  gracious  and 
gentle,  he  went  ahead  of  his  contemporaries,  desiring 
to  make  a  pace  which  the  Conference  leaders  depre- 
cated ;  he  committed  himself  to  a  course  which  seemed 
an  infraction  of  the  laws  of  the  Conference  brother- 
hood, and  was  therefore  expelled.  Thus  arose  the 
Methodist  New  Connexion.  In  those  days  the  Hock- 
ley Chapel  was  the  only  one  possessed  by  the  Wes- 
leyans  in  the  town  of  Nottingham.  It  was  legally 
Tested  in  a  body  of  trustees,  the  major  portion  of  whom 
sympathised  with  the  seceders,  and  therefore  took  over 
the  chapel  with  them.  The  secession  not  only  deprived 
the  Wesleyan  body  of  its  sanctuary,  but  carried  away 
more  than  three  hundred  of  its  members.  In  reality 
the  Society  was  rent  in  twain. 

Since  1797  several  other  divisions  have  occurred  in 
the  Methodist  body,  but  if  one  may  judge  by  recent 
•events,  the  wave  of  secession  has  now  expended  its 
force,  and  the  spirit  of  reunion  has  begun  to  assert  it- 
self. This  is  witnessed  by  the  amalgamation  of  the 
separated  branches  into  one  great  Methodist  Church 
in  British  America  and  Australasia,  and  by  efforts  in 
the  same  direction  at  home.  The  same  wholesome 
tendency  is  witnessed  among  the  greater  denominations 
of  Presbyterians  in  Scotland.  In  that  quarter  seces- 
sion has  formerly  been  rife  enough.  I  have  read  of  a 
Scotch  nobleman  whose  butler  was  a  Presbyterian 
^Ider.      One  day  he  said  to  the  butler,  "  I  say,  Sandy, 


I 


176      THE    TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT 

you  belong  to  the  split,  don't  you?"  "  No,  my  lord 
I  belong  to  the  split  of  the  splitted  split,"  was  the 
immediate  answer.  In  a  case  like  this  secession  has 
travelled  far,  but  w^e  have  fallen  on  happier  times.  Per- 
chance the  lesson  has  been  learned  that  it  is  the  devil 
who  most  profits  by  the  quarrels  of  the  saints. 

The  room  called  Beck  Barn  was  but  a  temporary 
meeting-place  waiting  the  erection  of  a  permanent 
structure,  an  event  which  really  happened  in  the  fol- 
lowing year,  and  on  the  same  site  there  stands  to-day 
a  fine  old  Methodist  sanctuary,  loved  by  several  genera- 
tions of  Nottingham  Wesleyans — the  Halifax  Place 
chapel.  To  Beck  Barn  then  Dinah  Morris  went,  on 
Easter  Tuesday,  1797,  and  from  what  she  tells 
us  of  the  service  we  may  gather  that  it  was  one 
of  revivalistic  fervour  and  long  continuance.  The 
Kev.  George  Smith  w^as  the  preacher.  She  says 
that  there  was  a  great  w^ork  among  the  people, 
many  cried  out  for  mercy,  while  the  workers  were  fully 
employed  in  pleading  with  the  penitents  and  praying 
on  their  behalf.  Often  they  broke  into  song  as  one 
and  another  declared  their  trust  in  pardoning  grace, 
expressing  their  glad  emotions  on  this  account  in  the 
majestic  strains  of  Bishop  Ken's  doxology.  Dinah 
Morris  seems  to  have  thought  that  a  lively  scene  like 
this  required  some  explanation,  hence  she  says — 

"  I  saw  no  confusion  m  the  matter.  I  concluded  that  sin- 
ners were  repenting  of  their  sins,  as  I  ought  to  do,  and  the 
people  of  God  were  so  anxious  for  them  to  be  saved,  and  these 
things  caused  them  to  rejoice.  I  longed  for  repentance  more 
than  ever  I  did  for  anything  in  my  life,  but  I  felt  great 
hardness  of  heart.  While  I  was  looking  to  Christ  the  mighty 
power  of'  God  fell  upon  me  in  an  instant.  I  fell  to  the  ground 
like  one  dead.  I  believe  I  lost  my  senses  for  a  season,  but 
when  I  recovered  I  was  trembling  ayd  weeping  most  bitterly. 
It  pleased  the  Lord  in  about  two  hours  to  speak  peace  to  my 


BABYHOOD   TO   WOMANHOOD  177 

soul.        I    arose    from    my    knees    and    praised    God    for    that 
opportunity." 

In  this  account  we  have  portrayed  not  only  a  case 
of  mental  and  spiritual  crisis,  but  of  physical  pheno- 
mena as  well.  Such  phenomena  frequently  occur  in 
the  history  of  religious  awakenings.  Under  the  preach- 
ing alike  of  the  fervid  Whitfield  or  the  logical  Wesley, 
the  strongest  men  were  seen  to  fall  stricken  to  the 
ground  one  after  another.  At  first  there  was  perplexity 
and  debate  as  to  whence  these  phenomena  came,  but 
after  due  inquiry  with  the  commonsense  and  willing- 
ness to  learn  which  usually  distinguished  him,  John 
Wesley  wrote  :  ' '  From  this  time  I  hope  we  shall  allow 
God  to  carry  on  His  own  work  in  His  own  way." 
Doubtless  there  is  some  danger  in  these  abnormal 
manifestations.  Hysteria  and  catalepsy  have  been  said 
to  accoant  for  them,  but  only  very  partially,  there  is 
an  element  of  mystery  left  which  we  are  not  able  to  ex- 
plain. Anyhow,  they  are  but  physical  and  accidental, 
and  experience  has  shown  that,  while  the  physical 
phenomena  pass  away  without  any  ill  effects,  the  spiri- 
tual blessing  remains.  So  with  Dinah  Morris.  That 
blessed  Easter  Tuesday  witnessed  the  beginning  of  a 
new  experience,  the  entrance  of  a  new  life.  The  dying 
mother's  prayer  for  her  feeble  infant  child  was  now  to 
have  its  gracious  answer. 

How  helpless  is  the  little  babe  so  early  deprived  of 
its  mother,  as  Dinah  Morris  w^as,  but  now  the 
child  has  grown  to  maturity,  and,  in  her  consecrated 
womanhood,  the  fond  petition  of  the  mother  is  to  meet 
its  complete  and  eternal  fulfilment.  In  that  make- 
shift sanctuary — Beck  Barn — the  book  called  Adam 
Bede  was  really  born,  for  assuredly  Dinah  Morris  gave 
to  her  niece,  George  Eliot,  the  living  germ  from  which 
13 


178      THE   TEUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT 

it  sprang,  and  the  real  Dinah  !Morris,  the  woman  of 
unconquerable  sympathy,  unbounded  hope  and  unfail- 
ing love,  received  her  true  spiritual  birth  in  that  un- 
consecrated  structure — Beck  Barn.  In  that  simple 
building  a  saint  life  was  born,  as  pure,  as  sweet,  and  as 
true  as  ever  adorned  the  soul  of  a  human  being.  One 
cannot  read  such  a  book  as  Mr.  Taft's  nor  can  we  open 
our  eyes  to  what  is  taking  place  in  our  own  times, 
without  feeling  that  the  age  of  saints  has  not  yet  passed 
away,  while  among  the  truest  and  the  best  of  saints 
there  have  ever  been  a  number  of  consecrated  women. 
The  women  of  the  Reformation  were  quite  as  noble  and 
heroic  as  the  men.  The  Puritan  women  shed  a  lustre 
on  their  age.  The  Methodist  revival  abounded  in 
consecrated  womanhood.  Our  own  age  has  been 
blessed  with  fine  examples  too,.in  whose  fragrant  wortli 
there  has  been  no  monopoly  by  any  denomination  of 
Christians.  Dinah  Morris,  in  her  day,  combined  in 
her  own  person  and  character  many  of  the  graces  attri-  ^  i 
buted  to  these  godly  women,  and  in  real  life  truly  won  ^  j 
for  herself  the  queenly  place  her  niece  has  accorded  to 
her  in  fiction.  The  gravestone  of  Helen  Walker  in 
Scotland  bears  an  inscription  dictated  by  Sir  Walter 
Scott.  Those  readers  of  Scott  who  remember  the  im- 
mortal Jeanie  Deans  will  understand  its  force.  It 
says  :  *'  This  humble  individual  practised  in  real  life 
the  virtues  with  which  fiction  has  invested  the  imagin- 
ary character  of  Jeanie  Deans."  It  will  be  our  privi- 
lege henceforth  to  show  that  Elizabeth  Tomlinson, 
known  now  as  Dinah  Morris,  practised  in  daily  life 
all  the  womanly  and  Christly  virtues  with  which  fiction 
in  its  turn  has  invested  her,  and,  indeed,  many  more 
which  are  not  recorded  in  fiction,  but  are  nevertheless 
written  in  memorials  that  cannot  die. 


CHAPTEK    XI 

DINAH   MORRIS— LIFE   AND   WORK   IN   NOTTINGHAM 

"  Saints  lived  not  in  the  past  alone. 
But  thread  to-day  the  unheeding  street ; 
And  stairs,  to  sin  and  famine  known 
Sing  with  the  welcome  of  their  feet ; 
The  den  they  enter  grows  a  shrine, 
The  grimy  sash  an  oriel  burns. 
Their  cup  of  water  warms  like  wine, 
Their  speech  is  filled  from  heavenly  urns." 

Adapted  from  Lowell. 

Can  there  be  a  more  interesting  study  than  the  develop- 
ment of  a  young  Christian  soul  under  the  highest  and 
holiest  influences  ?  In  tracing  the  real  story  of  Dinah 
Morris,  this  is  the  theme  which  invites  contemplation, 
and  it  runs  along  lines  of  close  association  with  the 
ministry  and  worship  of  Hahfax  Place  Chapel,  Notting- 
ham. 

In  1797  the  Wesleyans  in  that  town  were  limited  to 
the  poor  accommodation  of  Beck  Barn.  A  site  for  a 
new  sanctuary  was  procured  in  1798,  and  Hahfax  Place 
Chapel  was  forthwith  erected.  At  this  juncture  a  truly 
great  minister  came  upon  the  scene,  one  of  the  faithful 
and  mighty  itinerants  whom  Wesley  sent  into  the 
ministry.  These  were  men  of  great  spiritual  power, 
dauntless  courage,  stern  self-denial  and  consecrated  de- 

179 


180      THE    TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT 

votion.  Their  faith  and  zeal  were  unbounded  and 
their  labours  strenuous  and  untiring.  They  suffered 
severe  hardships  and  endured  revojting  cruelties,  but, 
in  spite  of  all  these  things,  they  went  from  conquering 
to  conquer.  One  of  the  mightiest  of  them  all  was 
William    Bramwell,    the    superintendent    minister   in 


THE    REV.    WILLIAM    BRAMWELL 


Nottingham  from  1798  to  1801.  His  course  there  was 
one  continuous  triumph.  He  found  distraction  and 
controversy,  with  which  he  resolved  not  to  meddle. 
His  mission  was  to  preach  spiritual  truths,  win  souls, 
train  godly  workers,  and  lead  the  Christian  flock  into 
the  sure  attainment  of  holy  character.       So  well  did  he 


DINAH    MORRIS-LIFE    AND    WORK         181 

succeed,  that  after  a  period  of  sore  spiritual  anguish 
and  eager  wresthngs,  all  things  were  changed.  His 
helpers  were  loyal  fellow-workers  and  his  triumph  was 
complete.  It  was  said  of  him,  "  There  was  no  pause 
in  his  labours.  Early  and  late  he  was  at  w^ork ;  al- 
most every  moment  he  was  found  practising  some  part 
of  his  duties,  whether  obligatory  or  self-imposed  :  now 
fasting,  watching,  meditating,  praymg  in  private  ;  then 
visiting,  exhorting,  comforting  in  families;  and  again 
pleading  or  preaching  in  public."  During  his  last 
year  in  Nottingham  there  was  terrible  social  disorder 
and  abounding  public  distress.  That  he  might  give 
the  more  help  to  the  starving  people  he  rigorously  re- 
duced the  supplies  of  himself  and  his  household  to  the 
lowest  possible  limit,  even  to  a  degree  w^hich  involved 
some  danger  to  health,  but  philanthropy  was  his  master 
passion.  Happily,  we  of  this  generation  can  scarcely 
realise  the  hard  necessities  of  those  distressful  times. 
Good,  sound  wheat  can  now  be  purchased  at  thirty 
shillings  per  quarter — in  those  days  it  was  rarely  less 
than  four  pounds  per  quarter,  and  occasionally  reached 
the  famine  price  of  seven  or  eight  pounds.  Wages  at 
best  w^ere  low  and  semi-starvation  prevailed.  In  spite 
of  all  obstacles,  the  loss  of  three  hundred  members  by 
the  prevailing  secession  had  been  balanced  by  new 
gains  in  the  first  year  of  Mr.  Bramwell's  pastorate ;  in 
the  second  the  new  accessions  were  still  more  numer- 
ous, and  at  the  end  of  his  term  there  was  a  reinforce- 
ment of  over  one  thousand  souls.  The  ministry  of  this 
devoted  man  had  great  charm  for  Dinah  Morris,  and 
helped  to  form  the  character  she  afterwards  bore.  She 
repeatedly  mentions  him  in  her  chapter  of  autobio- 
graphy, and  in  her  first  reference  styles  him,  "  that 
man  of  God,  Mr.  Bramwell."   His  prayers,  his  preach- 


182      THE   TRUE   STORY   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT 

ing  and  his  life  were  an  abiding  influence  to  the  end  of 
her  days. 

We  must  now  turn  to  her  memoirs  to  mark  the 
several  stages  of  her  spiritual  development,  and  a  few 
brief  extracts  will  show  her  decision  of  character, 
grow^th  in  experience,  and  her  introduction  to  private 
Christian  work  and  public  ministry.  The  first  of  these 
relates  to  her  union  with  the  Methodist  Church.  Prior 
to  the  Easter  Tuesday  of  1797,  w^e  find  her  lamenting 
her  lack  of  acquaintance  with  the  Methodist  people, 
but  after  her  experiences  of  that  night,  she  speedily 
remedied  this  inconvenience. 

''  Our  dear  friends  omitted  inviting  me  to  a  class,  which 
might  have  proved  hurtful  if  the  Lord  had  not  blessed  me  with 
courage,  for  I  know  not  one  Methodist  in  the  town ;  but  1 
asked  a  young  woman  if  she  knew  where  any  Methodists  lived  - 
she  said  her  father  was  one.  I  went  and  spoke  to  him  con- 
cerning the  society,  he  invited  me  to  go  with  him  to  the  class, 
I  went  without  any  hesitation,  and  felt  it  both  my  privilege 
and  my  duty." 

Here  we  perceive  marked  decision  of  character  in  cir- 
cumstances none  too  favourable.  If  lonesome  young 
inquirers  would  overcome  natural  shyness  as  she  did, 
it  would  facilitate  their  spiritual  growth  and  usefulness, 
as  it  did  hers.  The  position  she  now  assumed  was  that 
of  the  unw;avering  disciple.  Every  forward  step  gives 
evidence  of  this  fact.  Her  days  of  weeping  for  lack 
of  opportunities  were  over,  her  days  of  consecration  had 
come.       She  writes  : 

"  I  had  entirely  done  with  the  pleasures  of  the  world  and 
with  all  my  old  companions.  I  saw  it  my  duty  to  leave  off  all 
my  superfluities  in  dress;  hence,  I  pulled  off  all  my  bunches, 
cut  off  my  curls,  left  off  all  my  lace,  and  in  this  I  found  an 
unspeakable  pleasure.  I  saw  I  could  make  a  better  use  of  my 
tim^  and  money  than  to  follow  the  fashions  of  a  vain  world." 


.A.i 


CAUFOg:^' 


DINAH  MORRIS-LIFE   AND   WORK  185 

The  course  she  now  followed  with  regard  to  her  dress 
was  one  which,  doubtless,  for  a  young  woman  of 
twenty-one,  would  be  considered  extreme.  The  lace- 
menders  of  Xottingham  are  a  smart  well-dressed  and 
respectable  body  of  female  artisans,  and  it  was  to  this 
class  she  belonged.  I  am  not  sure  that  the  temptations 
to  display  in  the  matter  of  dress  were  not  more  potent 
a  hundred  years  ago  than  they  are  to-day.  I  have  dis- 
tinct recollection  of  ball  and  wedding  dresses  exhibited 
to  my  admiring  eyes  when  I  was  very  young.  These 
pertained  to  the  times  of  Dinah  Morris,  and  were  worn 
by  women  who  were  her  relations  and  mine,  but  if  such 
styles,  colours  and  patterns  were  worn  now,  we  should 
vote  them  loud  and  gaudy.  It  seems  to  me  that  there 
has  been'  distinct  improvement  in  styles,  patterns, 
colours  and  fabrics,  but  Dinah  Morris,  after  her  decided 
manner,  settled  her  fashions  for  herself,  once  for  all. 
She  adopted  the  Quakeress  attire,  which  is  by  no  means 
inartistic.  Her  public  garb  consisted  of  a  black  dress, 
a  white  shawl,  a  neat  muslin  cap,  and  a  lofty  coal- 
scuttle bonnet.  Her  modes  never  changed,  and  some 
choice  relics  of  her  clothing  are  cherished  by  her  de- 
scendants to  this  day.  I  well  remember  some  other 
Methodist  woman  who  wore  the  Quaker  habit  as  a 
protest  against  the  vanities  of  the  time.  Dinah  Morris 
took  this  position  as  to  dress  to  mark  her  surrender  of 
that  worldly  living  in  which  for  awhile  she  had  vainly 
striven  to  find  happiness. 

She  now  formed  regular  habits  of  piety.  Seasons 
of  secret  prayer  became  a  daily  rapture.  The  Scrip- 
tures were  her  special  delight.  "Oh,  the  precious 
seasons  I  experienced  in  these  exercises  I ' '  She  finds 
it  still  inspiring,  after  many  years,  to  dwell  in  thought 


183      THE   TRUE    STORY   OF    GEORGE    ELIOT 

upon  those  early  experiences.  In  this  age  cf  whirl 
and  hurry  there  is  special  danger  lest  secret  meditation 
and  prayer  should  be  crowded  out  of  our  lives ,  and  de- 
votional reading  of  the  Scriptures  be  grievously  neglec- 
ted. After  the  arrival  of  Mr.  Bramwell  in  Notting- 
ham, her  mind  became  exercised  about  other  matters. 
One   peculiarity  of  his   teaching  was,   that  in   conse- 


■(^.-^^JIP^^-^ 

L   " 

HiM|iiHH^JHHM  ,       9pilj  '  a»&A. 

•  ii-i^-" "  '.^g^^^r^ 

GRAXD  JURY  ROOM,  COUNTY  HALL,  NOTTINGHAM. 

quence  of  its  spiritual  bond  of  union  w^ith  the  risen  and 
glorified  Redeemer ,  the  believing  soul  may  be  so  filled 
with  the  Holy  Spirit  as  to  be  raised  into  moral  purity, 
and  may  feel  so  sublimated  in  motive  as  to  cherish  no 
feeling  in  the  heart  contrary  to  the  love  of  God.  This 
attainment  was  set  forth  under  the  terms  of  sanctifica- 
tion  and  perfect  love.  Mr.  Bramwell  insisted  that  all 
Christians  should  press  onward  to  attain  this  higher 


DINAH   MORRIS-LIFE   AISD   WORK  187 

life.  It  appears  that  Dinah  Morris  had  prolonged  men- 
tal anguish  concerning  the  attainment  of  holiness,  and 
at  last  this  conclusion  is  reached  : 

"  After  many  struggles,  thousands  of  tears  and  much  prayer 
with  fastings,  I  did  enter  into  glorious  libertj'.  I  could  trulv 
say,  '  I  am  crucified  with  Christ:  nevertheless  I  live;  yet  not  I, 
but  Christ  liveth  in  me.'  Oh,  the  blessed  deadness  to  the 
world  and  everything  in  the  world  and  the  creature  I  cannot 
describe.  I  began  to  act  a  little  in  prayer-meetings,  to  visit 
the  sick,  and  to  do  anything  the  Lord  set  me  about." 

The  visitation  of  the  sick  in  those  days  entailed 
serious  risks  in  Nottinghapi,  because,  for  lack  of  sanita- 
tion, fearful  epidemics  preyailed.  The  scourge  of  typhus 
fever,  now  almost  unknown,  was  then  a  dreadful  visi- 
tant. Dinah  Morris  caught  the  infection  through 
ministering  to  a  stricken  family,  and  was  very  ill  with 
the  fever.  In  her  ardour  of  spiritual  enthusiasm  she 
scorned  to  send  for  a  doctor.  "  I  thought  when  Christ 
was  applied  unto  in  the  days  of  His  flesh  by  any  one, 
for  anything ,  either  for  body  or  soul ,  He  did  for  them 
whatever  they  had  need  of  ;  and,  while  I  was  looking  to 
Him  and  exercising  my  faith  upon  Him,  I  most  power- 
fully felt  these  words  applied  to  my  mind  :  '  And  He 
came  and  took  her  by  the  hand  and  lifted  her  up,  and 
immediately  the  fever  left  her,  and  she  ministered  unto 
them.'  I  felt  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  that  the  fever 
was  gone,  all  my  pain  had  ceased,  and  I  was  quite  re- 
stored to  health.  Glory  be  to  God."  In  a  state  of 
!  convalescence  she  at  once  made  a  journe}^  to  Derby, 
and  there  engaged  in  various  exercises — such  as  deliver- 
ing exhortations  in  prayer-meetings  and  leading  society 
classes.  Never  did  she  doubt  the  unseen  power  of 
the  invisible  God  had  healed  her  of  her  fever,  and  the 
incident  was  one  of  the  means  which  led  her  to  engage 


188      THE   TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT 

in  public  exercises.  Her  reverend  pastor,  Mr.  Bram- 
well,  always  encouraged  female  evangelism.  On 
several  occasions  he  invited  women  helpers  to  share 
with  him  the  work  of  winning  souls  and  promoting  re- 
vivals. In  this  way  he  brought  Miss  Barrett,  who 
afterwards  became  Mrs.  Zechariah  Taft,  to  assist  him 
in  Nottingham.  One  day  when  preaching  in  Halifax 
Place  Chapel  he  said  :"Why  are  there  not  more  women 
preachers?  Because  they  are  not  faithful  to  their  call." 
Here  w^as  a  new  view  of  possible  duty,  which,  in  the 
case  of  Dinah  Morris,  led  to  the  most  intense  exercises 
of  mind.  "  The  love  of  God  was  as  a  fire  shut  up  in 
my  bones,  and  the  thoughts  of  the  blessed  work  of 
bringing  souls  to  Christ  drank  up  my  spirits,  so  that  I 
knew  not  how  to  live  !"  The  visit  to  Derby  was  an 
occasion  of  public  exercises  in  prayer-meetings,  but  an- 
other startling  event  followed,  which  precipitated  her 
further  career  in  witnessing  for  Christ.  At  the  Lent 
assizes  in  Nottingham  in  the  year  1802,  Sir  Richard 
Graham  condemned  eleven  persons  to  capital  punish- 
ment. The  law  and  its  administration  were  then  most 
barbarous.  These  culprits  were  not  all  sentenced  for 
murder,  because  crimes  against  property  were  then 
punishable  by  death.  One  poor  boy,  ten  years  old, 
not  in  Nottingham,  however,  stole  a  silk  handkerchief 
valued  at  four  shillings,  and  w^as  hung  for  the  offence. 
A  man  in  London  had  been  arrested  by  His  Majesty's 
press-gang  and  carried  off  to  the  war,  leaving  his  wife 
and  three  children  uncared  for,  and  in  a  state  of  starva- 
tion. Passing  by  a  draper's  shop  in  Ludgate  Hill,  the 
poor  woman  seized  a  roll  of  coarse  calico-cloth  valued  at 
seven  shillings  and  sixpence.  She  did  not  succeed  in 
carrying  it  away  from  the  premises,  nevertheless  she 
was  promptly  arrested,  flung  into  prison,  tried  for  her! 


^     or  THE 

UNIVERSITY    \ 

OF  ' 


DINAH  MORRIS-LIFE   AND   WORK  191 

life ,  condemned  and  hung  !  She  was  drawn  in  a  cart 
to  the  place  of  execution  with  her  baby  at  her  breast. 
Originally  the  law  enjoined  the  punishment  of  death 
for  any  theft  of  property  of  whatsoever  value.  In  1802 
the  stolen  goods  must  be  of  the  minimum  value  of  half- 
a-crown.  The  Lord  Stanhope  of  those  days  brought  a 
Bill  into  the  House  of  Lords  proposing  to  raise  the 
minimum  to  five  shillings,  but  another  peer,  Lord 
Wynford,  resisted  it  successfully  jIs  a  revolutionary 
measure,  declaring  that  if  it  should  pass  into  law  the 
people  of  England  would  no  longer  be  able  to  sleep  in 
their  beds  and  nobody's  property  would  be  safe.  ^lany 
years  passed  before  these  cruel  laws  were  repealed. 

There  was,  however,  at  this  Nottingham  assize,  one 
case  of  child  murder.  The  perpetrator  was  Mary  Voce, 
a  girl  of  only  nineteen  years,  although  married  to  a 
bricklayer  and  the  mother  of  two  children.  In  the 
Nottingham  public  journals  of  the  day  it  was  said  that 
she  was  given  to  irregularities  of  life  which  led  her  hus- 
band to  forsake  her,  and,  being  left  with  two  young 
children ,  she  administered  poison  to  the  younger  of  the 
two,  was  arraigned  before  judge  and  jury,  and  sen- 
tenced to  be  hung.  Her  case  excited  much  compassion. 
She  was  impassive  and  obdurate  at  her  trial,  but  she 
was  so  forsaken  and  helpless,  that,  in  spite  of  her  sin, 
her  forlorn  condition  moved  the  hearts  of  the  Methodist 
people  of  the  Halifax  Place  Chapel,  so  they  consulted 
with  each  other  as  to  what  could  be  done  to  save  her 
soul.  It  is  at  least  a  relief  to  know  that  in  those  re- 
lentless times,  when  the  hangman  was  so  busy,  not 
only  Methodist  Christians,  but  others  also,  were  accus- 
tomed to  concern  themselves  deeply  for  the  spiritual 
welfare  of  condemned  persons  prior  to  their  execution. 
In  this  case,  action  had  to  be  very  alert,  for  Mary  Voce 


192     THE   TRUE   STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

was  convicted  on  a  Friday  evening  and  sentenced  to  be 
hung  on  the  following.  Monday  morning.  In  those 
days  vengeance  w^as  not  only  stern,  but  swift  also.  By 
the  detention  of  the  judge  in  the  town  beyond  the  usual 
time,  the  convict  obtained  a  respite  of  twenty-four 
hours'  duration — a  period  most  precious  to  her  and  mo- 
mentous in  the  history  of  Dinah  Morris.  It  would 
seem  that  on  Saturday,  the  day  after  the  sentence, 
the  prison  authorities  were  approached,  and  permission 
obtained  for  tw^o  women  of  the  Methodist  flock  to  have 
free  access  to  Mary  Voce,  and  to  stay  with  her  in  the 
condemned  cell  day  and  night  till  the  hour  of  her  exe- 
cution. 

One  of  the  two  selected  for  this  mission  was  Dinah 
Morris.  She  and  her  companion  made  the  best  possible 
use  of  the  brief  time  which  was  available,  and  spent 
practically  the  w^hole  of  it  with  the  young,  wayw^ard 
soul.  It  would  appear  from  a  collation  of  two  or  three 
independent  narratives,  that  both  Sunday  and  Monday 
nights  and  the  day  intervening  were  spent  in  the 
prison.  There  was  a  period  of  deep  mournfulness  and 
spiritual  agony  before  light  broke  on  the  gloom.  Dinah 
Morris,  wdth  her  tender,  sympathetic  spirit,  seems  to 
have  felt  the  most  exquisite  anguish  during  the  first 
night.  In  spite  of  all  that  these  gracious  sisters  of  the 
lost  soul  could  do,  she  seems  to  have  remained  callous 
for  many  hours.  How  they  would  exhort,  and  instruct, 
and  sing  and  pray,  w^e  can  readily  imagine.  It  was 
not,  however,  till  the  beginning  of  the  second  night's 
watch  that  relenting  came.  Some  of  the  Methodists 
outside  the  gaol  felt  as  deeply  for  the  spiritual  welfare 
of  Mary  Voce  as  the  two  who  were  inside.  One  John 
Clark  was  so  thoroughly  agonised  in  spirit,  that  he 
vowed  neither  to  eat  food  nor  to  sleep  until  he  had  ob- 


14 


DINAH   MORRIS-LIFE   AND   WORK  195 

tained  assurance  in  prayer  that  this  poor  woman  would 
be  saved.  Such  assurance  was,  as  he  beheved,  vouch- 
safed to  him  about  two  o'clock  of  the  Monday  morning, 
and  in  the  evening  of  the  same  day  he  made  a  visit  to 
the  prison  to  join  in  the  exercises  there.  Mr.  Taft  also 
— I  presume  the  Mr.  Taft  we  have  heard  of  before — 
came  on  the  like  errand.  There  was  hope  now,  for 
relenting  had  already  begun,  a  full  confession  was 
made,  one  hour  was  spent  in  joint  intercessions  for 
mercy ;  instructions ,  exhortations  and  encouragements 
were  mingled  with  the  petitions,  and  then  "  the  Lord 
in  mercy  spoke  peace  to  her  soul.  She  cried  out  :  '  Oh. 
how^  happy  I  am  !  The  Lord  has  pardoned  all  my  sins 
and  I  shall  go  to  heaven.'  She  never  lost  the  evidence 
for  one  moment,  but  always  rejoiced  in  the  hope  of 
glory." 

The  closing  scene  is  easy  to  follow  in  Dinah  Morris's 
narrative,  and  also  from  that  which  is  still  pre- 
served as  having  been  taken  from  the  journals 
of  the  time.  The  hours  went  quickly  on,  re- 
lieved of  their  sombre  dread  by  the  inward  change 
experienced  by  the  repentant  and  rejoicing  con- 
vict. Early  in  the  morning  there  came  to  the 
condemned  cell  the  Sheriff  for  Nottingham,  accom- 
panied by  the  Governor  of  the  gaol  attended  by  several 
warders,  and  followed  by  the  executioner.  Very 
quickly  the  sentence  is  read  over  in  her  hearing,  and  its 
justice  confessed.  The  hangman  ties  a  rope  round  her 
neck,  which  she  assists  him  in  adjustinef.  Then  she 
is  handcuffed  and  pinioned.  A  cart  is  waiting  at  the 
gaol  door,  into  which  she  is  quickly  hoisted.  A  plank 
spans  the  vehicle,  on  which  she  is  seated,  wuth  Dinah 
Morris  on  one  side  and  her  companion,  Miss  Richards, 
on  the  other.      It  is  a  mile  and  a  quarter,  we  are  told, 


196     THE   TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

to  the  place  of  execution.  All  the  dreary  way  there  is 
prayer  and  praise.  An  unparalleled  crowd  throngs  the 
thoroughfares.  One  hundred  Methodists  form  a  pro- 
cession and  sing  hymns  all  the  way.  Passing  up  Mans- 
field Eoad  the  procession  halts  at  Gallows  Hill,  situated 
on  an  elevated  corner  of  Sherwood  Forest.  There 
stood  the  grim  scaffold  on  which  hundreds  of  convicts 
had  been  done  to  death.  From  its  transverse  beam, 
another  piece  of  rope  was  swaying  in  the  air.  The 
cart  was  drawn  under  it  and  the  ropes  tied  together. 
Some  of  the  death  tragedies  enacted  here  were  horrible 
in  the  extreme.  There  was  horror  enough  in  this  case 
truly,  with  thousands  gazing  on  the  scene ;  but  how 
was  it  relieved  from  the  darker  side  of  its  gloom  by  the 
calm  self-possession  and  radiant,  spiritual  joy  of  the 
poor  young  creature  who  had  made  her  artless  confes- 
sion and  now  witnessed  to  all  who  could  hear  her  voice , 
her  deep  sense  of  sin,  her  certainty  of  full  and  free  for- 
giveness, and  her  confident  hope  of  heaven.  There 
was  no  rescue,  although  in  Adam  Bede  the  last  moment 
brings  one.  Here,  however,  in  real  life,  nothing  of 
the  kind  takes  place.  The  cart  is  drawn  forward  and 
the  body  of  Mary  Voce  is  left  suspended  from  the  beam. 
But  with  her  last  breath  she  cried  :  ' '  Glory  to  God , 
glory,  glory  !" 


ILAM    HALL,    ILAM.    STAFFS. 

Formerly  the  residenre  of  the  late  Rt.  Hon.  R.  W.  Hanbury. 

Built  for  Mr.  Jesse  Watts  Russell,  J.P.,  by  Mr.  Win.  Evans,  of  EUastone. 


CHAPTER    XII 

DINAH    MORRIS— THE   MISSION-PREACHER    WOOED 
AND    WON    BY    SETH   BEDE 

"  Is  there  call  for  a  loving  servant, 
A  messenger  swift  for  Thee, 
A  bearer  of  glad,  good  tidings? 
Here  am  I,  Lord;  send  me." 

About  the  trial,  conversion,  and  execution,  of  the 
convict,  Mary  Voce,  a  ballad  was  published,  which  is 
preserved  in  the  Nottingham  Date  Book.  Though  it 
has  no  literary  merit  and  is  but  doggerel,  I  think  it  is 
worthy  of  being  re-published  because  it  affords  inde- 
pendent testimony  to  the  accuracy  of  the  story  told  in 
Dinah  ^Morris's  autobiography,  and  is  an  evidence  of 
the  deep  interest  excited  by  the  case  of  Mary  Voce 
among  the  Methodist  people  in  Nottingham.  The 
Date  Book  is  a  vivid  historic  chronicle  of  passing 
events  and  is  often  most  graphic  in  its  narratives.  It 
gives  a  good  deal  of  space  to  the  many  executions  at 
Gallows  Hill,  and  among  the  rest  to  that  of  Mary 
Voce.  It  expresses  warm  commendation  of  the  bold 
and  beneficent  efforts  to  benefit  the  culprit  which  were 
made  by  ^Nliss  Eichards,  Dinah  Morris  and  ethers. 
The  pcem  begins  with  her  emergence  from  the  town 
gaol  and  then  portrays  the  execution  :  — 

199 


200     THE   TRUE   STORY  OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

"  When  Mary  from  the  prison  came, 
A  crowd  had  gathered  round ; 
But  she  was  not  dismayed,  for  now 
Her  heart  true  peace  had  found. 

Made  happy  in  the  love  of  God, 

Calmly  she  took  her  leave; 
Jesus  had  eased  her  of  her  load, 

She  now  disdained  to  grieve. 


ST.    MARY  S    CHURCH,    NOTTIXGHAM. 

Her  quickened  soul  so  joyful  was, 
So  nerved  by  heavenly  hope, 

So  eager  for  the  awful  change, 
She   helped   to   fix   the   rope ! 

Nor  did  she  dread  the  thought  to  die, 

When  she  was  led  away  ; 
Her   heavenly   looks   did   testify 
It  was  a  joyful  day. 


DINAH   MORRIS   WOOED   BY   SETH  BEDE     201 

How  eager  were  those  pious  souls, 

Who  did  on  her  attend, 
To  point  her  to  the  Lamb  of  God, 

The  sinner's  only  Friend. 

Ah,  how  they  mourned  for  her  distress 

With  pity  tried  and  true ; 
Their  weak  endeavours  God  did  bles« 

And  owned  their  labours  too. 

All  in  a  moment,  as  they  prayed, 
Her  rapt'rous  voice  exclaimed: 
*  O,  what  has  Jesus  done  for  meP 
My  soul  Ho  has  reclaimed. 

He  breaks  my  chains  and  sets  me  free, 

God  does  His  love  impart ; 
My  load  of  guilt  is  gone,  I  feel 

The  pardon  on  my  heart.' 

When  to  the  fatal  tree  arrived, 
'Mary,  we're  here,'  said  one; 
'  Well,  bless  the  Lord,'   she  then  replied 
In  a  triumphant  tone. 

Then  to  the  standers-by  she  said, 
'  I  pray  you  warning  take ; 
Although  I  hang  upon  this  tree, 
Jesus,  my  soul  will  take.' 

And  when  the  fatal  cap  was  drawn, 

She  must  no  longer  stay : 
'  Glory,  glory,'  still  she  cried, 

And  then  was  launched  away." 

"Is  this  not  a  brand  plucked  from  the  fire?  Glory, 
glory  be  to  Jesus." 

Of  the  thousands  who  gazed  at  the  execution  of  Mary 
Voce,  it  would  never  occur  to  any  of  them  that  the 
scene  enacted  before  their  eyes,  related  by  one  of  the 
actors  in  the  tragedy,  would  fasten  upon  the  plastic 
genius  of  a  great  author  and  take  its  place  in  one  of 
the    finest    fictions    ever   given    to    the    world.      Let 


202     THE    TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

it  be  remembered,  however,  that  Mary  Voce  is 
entirely  different  from  Hetty  Sorrel.  Between  the 
one  and  the  other  there  is  little  semblance.  The 
dread  experiences  of  Mary  Voce  supply  but  the  barest 
outline  of  suggestion— that  is  all.  The  vain,  fas- 
cinating farmer's  niece,  Hetty,  moves  in  quite  another 


TOWN-    GAOL    IN    NOTTIXGHAM,    IN    WHICH    MARY   VOCE    (hETTY 

sorrel)  was  incarcerated. 

plane  and  is  of  entirely  different  mould.  The  tragedy 
of  the  former  was  but  the  peg  on  which  the  story  of  th(3 
latter  w^as  hung,  nevertheless,  it  is  Mary  Voce,  and  in 
all  likelihood  another  unnamed  person,  w^ho  served  to 


i 


DINAH  MORRIS  WOOED  BY  SETH  BEDE     203 

suggest  to  the  author  her  character  of  Hetty  Sorrel. 
Be  this  as  it  may,  the  experiences  won  in  the  prison 
and  at  the  execution  had  a  most  potent  influence  on 
the  mind  of  Dinah  Morris.  This  she  sets  before  us 
in  emphatic  and  simple  language  :  — 

"  At  this  awful  spot  (Gallows  Hill)  I  lost  a  great  deal  of  the 
fear  of  man,  which,  to  me,  had  been  a  great  hindrance  for  a 
long  time.  I  felt  that  if  God  would  send  me  to  the  uttermost 
parts  of  the  earth  I  would  go,  and  at  intervals  felt  I  could 
embrace  a  martyr's  flames.  Oh  !  this  burning  love  of  God, 
what  will  it  not  endure?  I  could  not  think  I  had  an  enemy  in 
the  world.  I  am  certain  I  enjoyed  that  salvation,  that  if  they 
had  smote  me  on  the  one  cheek  I  could  have  turned  to  them 
the  other  also.     I  lived 

'  The  life  of  Heaven  above. 
All   the   life   of   glorious   love.' 

I  seemed  to  myself  to  live  betwixt  heaven  and  earth.  I  was 
not  in  heaven  because  of  my  body,  nor  upon  earth  because  of 
my  soul ;  earth  was  a  scale*  to  heaven,  and  all  I  tasted  was 
God.  I  could  pray  without  ceasing  and  in  everything  give 
thanks.  If  I  wanted  to  know  anything,  I  only  had  to  a?k  and 
it  was  given,  generally  in  a  moment.  Whether  I  was  in  the 
public  street,  or  at  my  work,  or  in  my  private  room,  I  had  con- 
tinual intercourse  with  my  God,  and  many,  I  think  I  may 
say  hundreds,  of  times.  He  shone  upon  his  Word,  and  showed 
me  the  meaning  thereof  so  as  to  furnish  mo  with  sufficient 
matter  to  speak  to  poor  sinners  for  a  suitable  length  of  time." 

A  good  deal  came  to  be  made  of  Dinah  Morris's  ex- 
periences in  the  prison  cell  and  at  the  gallows-tree. 
On  the  day  of  the  execution  Halifax  Place  Chapel  was 
crowded  for  special  service.  The  superintendent 
minister,  Mr.  Kane,  preached  to  the  people,  and  Mr. 
Taft,  the  second  minister,  who  had  taken  some  part  in 
the  prison  ministrations,  gave  a  narrative  illustrating 

*  A  series  of  steps,  a  means  of  ascending. 


204       THE  TRUE  STORY  OF  GEORGE  ELIOT 

the  work  of  Divine  grace  on  the  mind  of  the  doomed 
sufferer.  Dinah  Morris's  name  got  abroad  among  the 
Methodists,  and  an  invitation  was  brought  to  her  to 
go  to  Tutbury,  for  the  purpose  of  relating  her  experi- 
ences and  conducting  reHgious  services.  The  spirit  in 
which  she  entered  on  this  mission  was  truly 
apostohc.  Some      friends       had      brought       the 

letter  of  invitation  to  her  at  the  Halifax 
Place  love-feast,  whereupon  she  determined  to 
accept  it.  "I  clearly  saw  that  my  time  was  come, 
and  that  I  must  go,  not  conferring  with  flesh  and 
blood.  I  fixed  the  time  to  be  there,  and  a  local 
preacher  published  it  for  me  to  speak.  What  I  felt 
that  day  I  can  never  describe,  I  could  neither  sit  nor 
stand,  the  worth  of  souls  was  so  laid  upon  me.  I  be- 
lieve I  felt  something  of  the  passion  of  my  blessed 
Lord,  but  He  supported  me.  I  likewise  saw  in  the 
night-seasons  the  places  I  must  speak  in,  the  roads  to 
some  of  those  places,  the  people  I  must  speak  to,  and 
the  things  on  which  I  must  stand,  together  w^ith  the 
opposition  I  must  meet  with."  This  kind  of  second 
sight  accompanied  her  through  life.  There  are  many 
incidents  narrated  concerning  her  inward  foreshadow- 
ing of  things  which  were  to  happen  to  her.  She  had 
a  kind  of  prophetic  vision  of  events  relating  to  her 
work  which  is  well  attested,  and  we  need  not  suppose 
that  such  experiences  are  peculiar  to  Dinah  Morris. 
With  some  finely-wrought  souls  there  are  mystic 
powers  which  carry  them  into  a  realm  above  the  com- 
monplace experiences  of  life,  and  there  may  be  in  all  of 
us  possibilities  of  mental  impression  which  we  have 
scarcely  fathomed  as  yet.  There  lies  within  and  around 
us  a  spiritual  universe  of  mystery  and  wonder  whirl 
we  have  not  fully  explored.       Dinah  Morris  was  now; 


11 


^ 


I 


TABLE  MADE  BY  SAMUEL  EVANS  (SETH  BEDe)  NEARLY  A  CENTURY  AGO. 


OF  THE 

UIMIVER  - 


/FCKiN.- 


DINAH  MORRIS  WOOED  BY  SETH  BEDE     207 

living  in  a  sphere  of  profound  and  ecstatic  feeling. 
Her  spiritual  exercises  were  of  the  most  exalted 
character,  and  the  invitation  to  Tutbury  served  to  in- 
tensify them.  It  was  in  a  whirl  of  rapturous  excite- 
ment she  started  on  her  way.  She  halted  at  Derby  to 
visit  her  Methodist  friends  there.  To  this  place  she 
had  travelled  by  coach,  for  there  were  no  railways 
then.  Here  she  had  new  manifestations.  Of  one 
of  them  she  says  :  "  I  retired  again  (for  prayer)  and 
how  long  I  continued  I  do  not  know,  but  the  Lord  was 
pleased  to  show  me  His  glory  in  such  a  manner  as  He 
had  never  done  before.  The  room  was  filled  with 
angels  and  my  soul  with  the  glory  of  God.       I  felt 

'  The  speechless  awe  that  dares  not  move, 
And  all  the  silent  heaven  of  love.' 

I  went  on  my  way  rejoicing  to  the  place  appointed." 

Doubtless  this  place  would  be  Tutbury.  It  would 
seem  that  the  invitation  which  had  been  sent  to  her 
did  not  emanate  from  the  official  authorities  in  the 
Burton-on-Trent  Circuit,  to  which  Tutbury  belonged, 
nor  had  it  been  endorsed  by  them,  and  even  from  the 
first  there  was  opposition.  The  young  minister  and 
the  Circuit  Steward  busied  themselves  to  hinder  her 
work.  They  did  not  wholly  succeed,  but  they  con- 
trived to  raise  a  tempest,  to  excite  suspicion  and 
generate  antipathy.  Four  months  were  spent  in  this 
evangelistic  mission.  Dinah  Morris  was  fjladly  wel- 
comed by  the  simple-hearted  Methodist  folk  in  many 
places  of  the  Burton  Circuit,  but  was  everywhere  pur- 
sued by  the  disaffected  officials.  Her  meetings  were 
held  in  chapels,  farmhouses,  cottages,  and  often  in  the 
open  air.  "  Many  were  brought  to  the  Lord  in  the 
Burton   Circuit   who   nobly   stood   by   their   Master's 


iJ08       THE  TRUE  STORY  OF  GEORGE  ELIOT 

cause,  and  some  have  fallen  asleep  in  Jesus,  among 
whom  you  may  find  a  Mr.  John  Ordish,  in  the  July 
Magazine,  1822.  Those  were  blessed  days.  I  can 
scarcely  think  of  them  without  weeping.'*  But  the 
opposition  at  last  prevailed.  With  some  strait-laced 
persons  the  best  of  work  must  be  discounted  if  it  be 
not  done  after  their  preconceived  pattern.  There  is 
good  evidence  that  the  people  she  had  laboured  among 
would  gladly  have  retained  her,  but  the  Circuit  was 
being  embroiled  and  she  meekly  returned,  smarting  in 
spirit,  to  her  daily  occupation  as  a  lace-mender,  and 
was  cordially  welcomed  by  her  employers. 

There  were  well-to-do  friends  who  offered  her  shelter 
and  comfort,  if  she  w^ould  only  tarry  with  them.  One 
family,  in  which  a  home  was  offered,  resided  in  the 
familiar  hamlet  of  Griffy  Dam.  Another  home  w^as  set 
before  her  which  was  situated  in  the  Leek  Circuit,  in 
Staffordshire,  showing  that  her  fame  had  already 
travelled  far.  Here  a  Mr.  Gould,  of  Brown  Hill,  was 
her  would-be  host.  On  examining  a  Brief  History  of 
the  Rise  and  Progress  of  Methodism  in  the  Leek  Cir- 
cuit, by  the  Kev.  J.  B.  Dyson,  I  found  the  name  of 
this  same  Mr.  E.  Gould,  of  Brown  Hill,  and  discovered 
that  he  was  a  farmer  in  the  parish  of  Warslow,  that  he 
was  a  devoted  Methodist,  and  cherished  a  church  in  his 
own  house.  Dinah  Morris  would  not  accept  these 
offers  of  gratuitous  hospitality.  She  was  too  self-re- 
liant and  independent  to  admit  of  such  a  thing — 
hence  her  return  to  Nottingham.  She  shall  speak  for 
herself  : 

"  I  had  a  great  desire  to  go  to  the  heathen  and  preach  to 
them  the  unsearchable  riches  of  Christ.  And  if  I  had  had  a 
suflBcient  fortune  I  certainly  should  have  gone ;  but  I  had  not, 
and  that  was  the  hindrance,  as  I  disliked  nothing  so  much  as 


DINAH  MORRIS   WOOED   BY   SETH   BEDE     20^ 

living  upon  the  people.  I  used  to  work  at  my  mending  of  lace 
till  two  or  three  o'clock  in  the  morning,  that  I  might  be  fur- 
nished with  money  and  clothes  that  I  might  not  be  a  burden  to 
anyone.  This  I  did  with  great  pleasure.  I  had  one  of  the  best 
places  in  the  town.     I   had  very  good  wages  and  could  earn 


I  LAM    CROSS. 
Monument  to  Mrs.  Watts  Hussell 


lo 


210      THE   TRUE   STORY   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT 

fourteen  or  fifteen  shillings  a  week,  and  did  not,  as  some  may- 
have  supposed,  go  out  for  loaves  and  fishes,  nor  for  a  husband. 
as  I  then  believed  I  should  never  be  married  to  anyone.  No, 
Christ  was  'all  the  world  to  me.'  " 

Soon  after  the  Tutbury  episode  she  received  an  invi- 
tation to  preach  in  Ashbourne — probably  in  the  summer 
of  1802.  To  her  and  Seth  Bede  this  was  a  memor- 
able visit.  It  is  at  this  time  we  find  Dinah  Morris 
introduced  to  the  district  with  which  her  life  was 
thenceforward  to  be  so  closely  associated.  For  travel- 
lers Ashbourne  is  the  gate  of  Dovedale.  Its  magni- 
ficent parish  church  is  called  the  cathedral  of  the 
Peak.  George  Eliot  says  it  is  one  of  the  finest  parish 
churches  in  the  country.  It  is  a  stately  sanctuary, 
chaste  and  beautiful.  Easily  reached  from  Ashbourne, 
and,  close  by  the  entrance  to  Dovedale,  there  is  one  of 
the  most  charming  and  picturesque  villages  in  Eng- 
land. Its  name  is  Ham.  In  the  newspapers  it  has 
recently  come  into  notice,  because  it  was  there  that  the 
late  Mr.  E.  W.  Hanbury,  M.P.,  had  his  country  seat, 
and  there,  after  his  lamented  death  in  London,  his 
body  was  conveyed  to  its  burial. 

;Ilam  Hall  was  built  for  its  former  proprietor,  Mr. 
Jesse  Watts  Eussell,  J. P.,  by  one  William  Evans,  a 
nephew  of  Adam  Bede,  who  succeeded  to  the  business 
of  builder,  which  the  uncle  had  originated  in  Ellastone. 
The  hall  is  a  fine  piece  of  work  and  occupies  a  romantic 
situation.  The  estate  attached  to  it  includes  one  side 
of  Dovedale.  Among  its  rock  scenery  is  the  collection 
of  The  Twelve  Apostles,  and  the  perpendicular  block, 
draped  with  ivy,  which  goes  by  the  name  of  Dovedale 
Church.  There  is  a  cross  and  fountain  in  the  village 
erected  to  the  memory  of  Mrs.  Watts  Russell,  a 
lady     who,     in     a     more     exalted     sphere     of     lif(», 


ILAM    CHURCH    ROCK,    OR    '  DOVEDALE    CHURCH,'     DOVEDALE. 


OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


DINAH  MORRIS  WOOED  BY  SETH  BEDE     213 

cherir,hed  the  philanthropic  sympathies  which 
were  so  marked  a  feature  in  the  hfe  of 
Dinah  Morris.  How  well  I  recollect  the  lamen- 
tations of  the  whole  country-side  over  her  early 
decease.  Her  husband  caused  the  cool,  clear  water, 
taken  from  springs  in  the  limestone  rocks  of  the  over- 
shadowing hill,  to  be  conveyed  to  a  fountain  in  the 
centre  of  the  village,  over  which  a  pure  Gothic  monu- 
ment was  erected  as  her  memorial.  The  sparkling 
liquid  bubbles  up  in  never-failing  supply,  and  here  is 
the  lady's  epitaph  : 

"  Free  as  for  all  these  crystal  waters  flow, 
Her  gentle  eyes  would  weep  for  others'  woe ; 
Dried  is  that  fount,   but  long  may  this  endure, 
To  be  a  well  of  comfort  to  the  poor." 

It  is  quite  probable  that,  during  her  first  visit  to 
Ashbourne,  Dinah  Morris  preached  at  Ellastone,  as 
portrayed  in  Adam  Bede,  and  that  this  visit  was  the 
occasion  of  the  preaching  on  the  village  green  at  Hay- 
slope.  It  is  likely  that  she  also  ministered  at  Snel- 
stone,  but  it  is  quite  certain  that  she  conducted  services 
at  Ashbourne  and  attracted  large  congregations.  The 
old  Methodist  Chapel,  as  I  remember  it  sixty  years 
ago,  is  now  a  seed  warehouse,  and  there  is  a  modern 
church  in  another  part  of  the  town  where  the 
Methodists  of  these  days  assemble.  The  associations 
of  the  old  building  are  still  very  sacred,  and  it  was  in 
connection  with  the  church  which  for  many  years  had 
its  home  therein,  that  Dinah  Morris  commenced  her 
blessed  labours  in  these  parts.  Wirksworth,  and  the 
villages  surrounding  it,  the  scene  of  life-long  labours, 
lies  just  over  the  hills,  a  few  miles  away.  It  was  at 
Ashbourne  that  Seth  Bede's  heart  was  won,  as  he  him- 


214      THE   TRUE   STOllY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

Keif  shall  tell  us.  "The  members  of  my  class  (at  Snels- 
stone)  invited  me  to  go  to  Ashbourne  to  hear  a  very 
pious  female,  Elizabeth  Tomlinson  (Dinah  Morris),  of 
Nottingham.  Truly  it  may  be  said  of  her  that  she  was 
a  burning  and  shining  light.     She  preached  with  great 


PARISH    CHURCH,    ASHBOURXE    (oAKEOURNE). 

power  and  unction  to  a  very  large  congregation.  Her 
doctrine  was  clear  and  good ,  and  her  piety  unrivalled  ; 
simplicity,  love  and  meekness  w^ere  blended  in  her,  and 
her  whole  heart  was  in  her  work.  She  was  made 
instrumental  in  the  conversion  of  many  we  know,  but 
the  mornino[  of  the  resurrection  will  reveal   more." 


DINAH  MORRIS  WOOED  BY  SETH  BEDE     215 

We  are  compelled  to  believe  that  the  visit  of  Dinah 
was  protracted,  and  that  Seth  had  more  than  one 
opportunity  to  see,  to  wonder  and  admire.  We  may 
feel  sure  that  it  was  not  with  him,  as  Eobert  Burns 
confesses  it  was  in  his  case,  with  regard  to  another 
young  lady  : 

"  In  preachin'  time  sae  meek  she  stan's, 
Sae  saintly  and  sae  bonnie,  O  ; 
I  canna  get  a  glimpse  o'   grace, 
For  stealing  looks  at  Nannie,   0." 

Seth  missed  no  spiritual  grace  in  his  manly  passion 
for  Dinah,  and  their  controversy  about  marrying  was 
the  only  one  they  ever  had.  Her  primary  notion  was 
that  she  should  give  herself  unreservedly  to  Christian 
service,  w^hich  was  her  controlling  passion.  It  was  no 
part  of  her  life-plan  to  be  encumbered  with  family  ties. 
She  thought  she  had,  like  some  other  women  she  knew^ 
a  loftier  call.  In  answer  to  all  this  Seth  was  able  to 
plead  the  grave  hindrances  w^hich  had  impeded  her 
mission  in  the  Burton  Circuit.  To  Dinah  Morris  this 
had  been  a  bitter  experience.  Seth  was  in  full  sym- 
pathy with  her  heavenly  call.  He  would  stand  be- 
tween her  gentle  soul  and  the  chill  blast  of  official  op- 
position. He  would  be  her  brave  knight,  her  chival- 
rous Greatheart,  her  glad  fellow-worker  in  all  Christian 
service.  He  could  toil  for  their  joint  livelihood  at  his 
ow^n  smart  handicraft  as  a  carpenter  and  joiner,  and 
she  could  have  full  liberty  to  preach  the  gospel  and 
win  souls.  In  one  of  my.  journeys  to  Wirksworth  I 
was  show^n  a  table  actually  made  by  Seth  Bede,  a  little 
later  than  this  period  of  his  history,  and  it  is  still 
strong  and  beautiful,  now  carried  off  to  the  north  of 
England  by  a  Derbyshire  young  lady  as  part  of  her 


216      THE   TRUE   STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

marriage  portion.  Dinah  at  last  gave  heed  to  Seth's 
plea,  though  not  without  some  misgivings,  and  he 
himself  shall  tell  the  story  of  their  union  : 

"When  I  was  twenty-six  we  were  united  in  holy  matrimony 
at  St.  Mary's  Church,  Nottingham.  I  found  her  a  help-meet 
in  spiritual  things  as  well  as  in  temporal  matters,  and  she  very 
often  stirred  up  the  gift  of  God  within  me.  She  did  me  good 
and  not  evil  all  the  days  of  her  life.     She  laboured  more  abun- 


OLD    WESLEYAX    CHAPEL,    ASHBOURNE    (oAKBOURNE). 

dantly  than  I,  and  held  up  my  hands  very  often  in  the  good 
work.  Wherever  she  went  she  preached  the  glad  tidings  to 
sinners,  ever  ready  to  do  her  Master's  will.  Indeed,  it  was  her 
meat  and  drink.  She  never  neglected  her  domestic  duties,  she 
was  clever  and  industrious,  a  good  wife,  and  an  exceeding 
tender-hearted  mother.  I  very  much  regret  that  her  holy  and 
valuable  life  was  not  printed,  as  her  gifts  and  graces  were 
great  and  extraordinary." 

This  is  Seth  Bede's  view  of  it  after  their  marriage 


DINAH  MORRIS  WOOED  BY  SETH  BEDE     217 

had  subsisted  in  unbroken  charity  for  forty-six  years, 
and  after  nine  years  of  widowerhood ;  and  we  have 
Dinah  Morris's  view  also,  after  twenty -two  years  of 
their  united  Ufe.      She  says  : 

*'  I  could  not  see  my  way  to  marry,  and  only  eternity  can 
clear  up  this  point  to  me ;  however,  I  am  fully  persuaded  that 
I  could  not  have  had  a  more  suitable  companion,  as  he  loved 
the  Lord's  blessed  work  from  his  heart,  and  did  not  only 
preach  himself,  hut  made  every  way  he  possibly  could  for  vie. 
Blessed  be  the  Lord,  I  felt  the  very  day  I  married,  as  though  I 
married  not ;  I  was  able  to  pursue  my  way,  and  at  every  con- 
venient opportunity  to  speak  in  the  name  of  the  Lord.  I  met 
with  very  little  persecution  or  opposition  when  I  had  a  friend 
to  plead  my  cause.  The  work  of  God  broke  out,  and  we  had 
most  powerful  times." 

Never  was  there  more  (perfect  oneness  between 
wedded  souls  than  between  Seth  Bede  and  Dinah 
Morris. 


CHAPTER    XIII 

HOLY    WORK    OF   A    WEDDED    PAIR 

"  So  many  gods,  so  many  creeds, 

So  many  paths  that  wind  and  wind, 
While  just  the  art  of  being  kind 
Is  all  this  sad  world  needs." 

It  seems  necessary  to  make  some  mention  of  the  mani- 
fest discrepancy  between  fiction  and  fact  as  to  the  mar- 
riage of  Dinah  Morris.  In  real  hfe  Seth  was  the  happy 
bridegroom — not  Adam  ;  while  in  Adam  Bede  we  have 
the  unfolding  of  a  story  which  is  clean  contrary.  How 
is  this?  Well,  first  of  all,  our  book  does  not  profess 
to  give  us  a  veritable  history.  It  purports  to  be  fiction 
and  nothing  else.  The  discrepancy  is  simply  a  matter 
of  art.  Adam  Bede  was  produced  under  the  affection- 
ate censorship  of  one  of  the  keenest  literary  critics  of 
the  time.  He  read  the  sheets  as  they  came  from  the 
writer's  hand.  As  the  novel  was  approaching  its 
concluding  chapters  his  criticism  was,  that  during  the 
earlier  portion  Adam  stood  in  the  forefront,  but  now 
had  receded  into  the  background  of  the  picture,  while 
Dinah  Morris  had  come  to  the  fore.  In  order  to  re- 
store Adam  to  prominence  as  the  author's  proper  hero, 
he  mast  needs  be  wedded  to  the  gentle  Dinah,  who 
had  become  the  undoubted  heroine.  Accordingly  this 
was  done.      A  moment's  reflection  will  show  that  this 

218 


^:br^^ 


OF  THE 


UNIVERSITY 


.'FORM\iV 


HOLY   WORK   OF   A  WEDDED   PAIR  221 

reversal  of  fact  does  violence  to  the  narrative.  Some 
of  the  most  competent  critics  are  of  opinion  that  it  does 
violence  also  to  the  truer  canons  of  literary  art,  and  is 
a  blot  on  the  story.  Since  situations  in  fiction  are  too 
readily  accepted  as  historical  fact,  some  injustice  has 
been  done  both  to  Seth  and  Dinah.  It  has  been  as- 
serted that,  in  her  real  history,  Dinah  Morris,  after  her 
early  years  of  Methodist  ardour  and  enthusiasm,  settled 
dovi^n  to  a  quiet  life  as  tl^e  wife  of  Adam,  and  even- 
tually abandoned  her  preaching  altogether.  In  the 
novel,  too,  we  take  farewell  of  Seth  as  the  humble 
lodger  in  the  married  home  of  the  woman  whom  he 
had  introduced  into  the  family,  had  loved  with  his 
whole  heart  and  soul,  and  meekly  surrendered  to  his 
more  imperious  brother,  while  he  tamely  accepts  the 
position  of  hobby-horse  to  the  young  Adam,  who 
equally,  with  others,  tyrannises  over  the  passive  and 
yielding  Seth.      All  this  is  contrary  to  fact. 

While  these  chapters  have  been  going  through  the 
press,  an  able  writer,  commenting  on  them,  has  first 
assumed  that  the  facts  of  Dinah's  marriage  agreed  with 
the  fiction,  and  has  then  based  his  judgment  on  that 
supposition.  Hence,  it  cannot  be  too  emphatically 
asserted  that,  in  actual  life  Adam  never  sought  the 
hand  of  Dinah  at  all,  but  had  been  married  to  his  first 
wife,  Harriet  Poynton,  some  time  before  Dinah  had 
become  known  to  the  family.  Whatever  may  be  told 
us  in  fiction,  I  am  well  assured  that  the  real  Adam  was 
never  in  the  least  degree  likely  to  yield  himself  the  vic- 
tim of  a  passion  for  any  woman  who  accepted  the  role 
of  a  preaching  evangelist.  Even  thus,  though  we  may 
regret  the  situation  created  for  us,  we  have  no  ground 
for  complaint.  In  the  selection  of  our  book  we  bar- 
gained for  fiction,  and  this  is  the  thing  we  have  got. 


222      THE   TRUE   STORY   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT 

In  this  case,  however,  the  fiction  has  created  such  wide 
and  deep  interest  that  for  many  years  past  all  manner 
of  efforts  have  been  made  to  ferret  out  the  facts.  Per- 
haps no  novel  has  ever  given  rise  to  a  greater  number 
of  efforts  of  this  character.  They  are  practically  num- 
berless. Probably  in  no  such  case  have  a  larger  num- 
ber of  inaccurate  statements  appeared  in  print.  We 
shall  find  that  Dinah  did  not  cease  her  evangelistic 
labours  after  her  marriage,  while  Seth,  on  his  part, 
was  faithful  to  his  promise  to  foster  and  promote  her 
God-blessed  ministry.  This  was  not  altogether  an  easy 
thing  to  do.  Methodism  has  always  looked  for  godly 
submission  on  the  part  of  its  adherents.  Just  as 
Dinah's  preaching  gifts  had  come  into  prominence,  the 
Wesleyan  Conference  promulgated  a  judgment  which 
was  strongly  antagonistic  to  female  preaching.  This 
was  in  the  year  1803.  The  minute  recorded  was  speci- 
fic and  discouraging.  It  is  stated  in  the  form  of  ques- 
tion and  answer.  "  Should  women  be  permitted  to 
preach  among  us?  We  are  of  opinion  in  general  that 
they  ought  not."  Eeasons  are  hereto  alleged,  one 
being  that  a  vast  majority  of  the  Methodist  people  were 
opposed  to  the  practice,  and  another  that  it  w^as  not  re- 
quired. "  But  if  any  w^oman  among  us  think  she 
has  an  extraordinary  call  from  God  to  speak  in  public 
(and  we  are  sure  that  it  must  be  an  extraordinary  call 
that  can  authorise  it),  we  are  of  the  opinion  she  should, 
in  general,  address  her  own  sex,  and  those  only,  and 
upon  this  condition  alone  should  any  woman  be  per- 
mitted to  preach  in  any  part  of  our  Connexion." 

Following  this  deliverance  there  is  a  set  of  stringent 
regulations,  under  which  alone  could  this  carefully 
circumscribed  ministry  be  exercised.  In  the  face  of 
this  minute  of  the  Conference  it  required  both  courage 


HOLY  WORK  OF  A  WEDDED  PAIR 


223 


and  judgment  on  the  part  of  Seth  Bede,  as  a  loyal 
Methodist,  to  make  arrangements  continually  for  the 
exercise  of  her  preaching  powers  by  his  gifted  and 
zealous  wife — Dinah  Morris.       The  Conference  placed 


\^ '^^^^^^^^^^^^^H 

'      S^Hp^p 

■ 

HARLEM    TAPE    WORKS,    MILLHOLSES,    WIRKSWORTH,    FOUNDED    BY 

SAMUEL    EVAXS     (SETH     BEDE)    1814. 

"  It's  a  bleak  and  barr3n  country  there."     Adam  Bide,  Chap.  iii. 

upon  such  ministry  as  hers  the  stamp  of  irregularity. 
Nevertheless  that  ministry  went  on.  When  she  can:e 
to  the  parish  of  Norbury  it  would  appear  that  the 
Methodist  flock  at  Snelstone  received  her  with  warm 
affection.  Meetings  were  held  at  Boston  as  well,  and 
soon  they  extended  their  efforts  to  Ellastone  and  other 
places. 


224      THE   TRUE   STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

It  is  very  pleasing  to  read  in  Seth  Bede's  account  of 
his  life  of  the  remarkable  interest  which  followed  the 
labours  of  his  devoted  wife  on  her  settlement  at  Nor- 
bury.  She  has  also  described  it  in  glowing  and  grate- 
ful terms  :  **  We  had  most  powerful  times,  many  were 
brought  into  peace,  and  I  believe  the  whole  village  had 
a  powerful  call.  We  had  access  to  several  fresh  places, 
and  societies  were  formed.  We  could  bear  them  re- 
cord that  they  would  have  plucked  out  their  eyes  and 
would  have  given  them  to  us.  We  were  with  them  in 
weariness  and  painfulness,  in  watchings  often,  in  fast- 
ings too ,  of  which  I  am  not  ashamed  to  speak. ' '  Know- 
ing, as  I  do  from  infancy,  the  spirit,  conversation  and 
method  of  the  life  depicted  in  this  paragraph ,  I  have  no 
difificulty  in  realising  how  incessant  or  how  exhaust- 
ing was  the  voluntary  toil  in  which  Seth  Bede  and 
Dinah  Morris  engaged  in  his  native  parish  of  Norbury 
and  in  the  places  round  about.  Wherever  she  came 
she  immediately  identified  herself  with  the  ignorant, 
the  needy,  the  sinful  and  afflicted.  The  sick  she  made 
her  charge  and  the  needy  her  friends.  She  sought  out 
both  the  suffering  and  the  lost,  and  spared  herself 
neither  toil  nor  sacrifice  in  her  efforts  to  do  them  good. 
It  was  not  an  occasional  spasm  of  sympathy,  it  was  life- 
long devotion.  The  simple,  honest  villagers  had 
never  seen  it  after  that  fashion,  and  their  warm  hearts 
responded,  as  human  spirits  always  will,  to  the  gentle 
touch  of  tender,  Christ-like  love. 

To  the  picture  of  their  labours  in  this  neighbourhood, 
drawn  for  us  by  Dinah  Morris,  there  is  a  companion 
sketch  in  the  autobiography  of  Seth  Bede.  His  ac- 
count was  written  long  years  after  the  event,  but  even 
at  eighty  years  of  age  his  thankful  soul  recalled  its 
memory   with   glowing   gladness  and   fervent   praise. 


HOLY   WORK   OF   A  WEDDED   PAIR 


225 


"  We  had  not  been  married  long  before  a  blessed  work 
broke  out  at  Roston  and  Snelstone.  The  holy  fire  ran 
through  our  class-meetings  and  prayer-meetings — 
seven  or  eight  would  find  peace  at  every  meeting.     I 


HOUSE    OF    SAMUEL    AND    ELIZABETH    EVANS   (SETH    BEDE   AND    DINAH 
morris)   AT    MILLHOUSES.    WIRKSWORTH. 

"  It  was  a  thatche:l  cottage  outside  the  town,  a  little  way  from  the  niill — an 
old  cottage  standing  sideways  towards  the  road,  with  a  little  bit  of  potato-ground 
before  it."  Adam  Bede,  Chap,  xxxviii. 


well  remember  one  man,  an  overseer  of  the  poor.  He 
was  so  powerfully  wrought  upon  and  got  so  happy  that 
he  called  out  in  the  meeting  :  '  What  is  Love  ?  What 
is  Love?  '  He  could  neither  sit,  stand,  nor  kneel,  he 
was  so  filled  with  the  love  of  God.  He  kept  his  piety, 
and  afterwards  died  a  very  happy  death.  They  were 
16 


^26      THE   TRUE   STORY   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT 

a  very  loving,  united  people,  and  would  have  done 
anything  for  us." 

But  Seth  Bede  must  needs  leave  Norbury.  There 
was  more  scope  for  energy  in  a  brisk  and  flourishing 
town  like  Derby  than  amidst  the  rustic  surroundings 
in  his  native  place.  To  the  great  sorrow  of  his  Methodist 
friends  they  had  to  say  farewell.  It  was  a  tender  and 
pathetic  parting,  and  rent  warm  hearts  on  either  side. 
The  husband,  however,  felt  that  the  time  had  new 
come  for  him  to  enter  into  business  on  his  own  account, 
and  therefore  to  Derby  they  went.  In  this  town,  for 
the  next  seven  years — from  1807  to  1814 — Seth  Bede 
pursued  his  calling  as  carpenter  and  builder. 

Here  the  same  course  of  Christian  toil  w^as  followed 
both  by  husband  and  wife  as  had  been  practised  in  the 
neighbourhood  of  Norbury.  Beyond  this  fact,  I  have 
but  few  particulars  of  their  labours  in  the  Derby  Cir- 
cuit. A  friend,  however,  who  has  written  very  ably 
in  the  Methodist  Recorder  about  Derby  Methodism 
has  lent  me  a  plan  of  the  Circuit  for  the  half-year  end- 
ing in  October,  1809.  In  this  plan,  contrary  to  the 
usual  custom,  the  places  are  numbered  instead  of  the 
preachers,  and  the  appointments  follow  the  preachers' 
names.  Here  a  full  share  of  engagements  is  allotted 
to  "  S.  Evans."  In  the  majority  of  cases  it  would  be 
understood  that,  in  his  appointments,  two  preachers 
would  appear  instead  of  one.  We  have  an  interesting 
and  an  independent  testimony  to  the  power  and  use- 
fulness of  this  consecrated  pair  at  the  time  of  their  resi- 
dence in  Derby  by  one  of  the  shrewdest  observers  of 
those  days— the  Eev.  Hugh  Bourne,  the  founder  of  the 
Primitive  Methodist  Connexion.  In  his  jounrals  he 
records  how  that  the  husband  and  wife  came  over  from 
Derby  and  joined  him  in  some  mission  services  in  the 


^^^^ 


THF.    OLD    WESLEYAX    CHAPEL,    CkOMFORD. 


HOLY  WORK  OF  A  WEDDED  PAIR  229 

hamlet  of  Wootton.  His  standard  of  spiritual  attain- 
ments was  exceedingly  high,  nevertheless  he  shows 
himself  to  be  both  amazed  and  gratified  at  the  mighty 
power  which  accompanied  the  united  ministrations  of 
Seth  Bede  and  Dinah  Morris.  Here  are  the  terms  he 
uses  concerning  them  :  "  Sunday,  June  25th,  1809.  T 
led  the  class  in  the  morning  at  Wootton.  We  were 
informed  that  Betsy  Evans,  Samuel  Evans's  wife,  from 
Derby,  would  speak  at  Wootton  in  the  afternoon.  Her 
husband  also  is  a  local  preacher.  She  began  about  two 
o'clock — her  voice  was  low  and  hoarse  at  first,  from 
having  preached  so  much  the  week  past ;  but  she  got 
well  into  the  power.  She  appears  to  be  very  clear  in 
spiritual  doctrines  and  ever  ready  in  scripture,  and 
speaks  full  in  the  Spirit.  From  the  little  I  saw  of  her 
she  appears  to  be  as  fully  devoted  to  God  as  any  woman 
I  ever  met  with.  O,  Lord,  help  her,  and  establish 
her  !  Her  husband  also  spoke.  He  appears  to  be  an 
excellent  man.      O,  my  Father,  bless  and  keep  him." 

So  powerful  an  impression  was  made  on  Hugh 
Bourne's  mind,  that  when,  on  a  journey  to  see  his  re- 
latives in  May,  1810,  he  had  occasion  to  pass  through 
Derby,  he  called  on  the  Evans',  both  going  and  return- 
ing. Two  entries  concerning  this  visit  are  recorded 
in  his  journal.  Monday  19th  :  "  I  came  to  Derby  and 
called  on  Samuel  Evans ;  his  wife  is  earnest."  Wed- 
nesday, 21st  :  **  I  came  to  Derby  and  had  some  conver- 
sation with  Mr.  Samuel  Evans  and  his  wife.  He  is  an 
earnest  man.  She  has  been,  and  is,  an  extraordinary 
woman  ;  she  has  been  very  near  Ann  Cutler's  experi- 
ence ;  but  she  met  with  great  persecution  especially 
from  the  Rev.  J.  E.  I  was  much  instructed  by  her 
conversation."  I  remember  Hugh  Bourne  quite  well, 
and  heard  him  preach  on  several  occasions.      Full  jus- 


230      THE   TRUE   STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

tice  has  never  been  done  to  this  extraordinary  charac- 
ter. For  Christian  simpHcity  of  Hfe,  unconquerable 
perseverance,  dogged  zeal,  self-sacrificing  labour,  sub- 
lime courage  and  heroic  endurance  as  a  revival  evan- 
gelist, he  has  seldom  been  equalled  in  the  annals  of  the 
Church  of  God.  It  is  therefore  all  the  more  interesting 
to  me  that  such  an  one  should  have  been  so  deeply  im- 
pressed by  the  spiritual  power  and  holy  conversation  of 
Seth  Bede  and  Dinah  Morris.  In  his  estimation, 
Dinah  was  a  rare  spiritual  phenomenon  and  a  woman 
of  exceeding  power. 

It  was  in  Derby  that  Dinah  Morris  made  the  ac- 
quaintance of  that  truly  great  w^oman  Mrs.  Elizabeth 
Fry,  and  of  the  lady  philanthropist  known  as  Lady 
Lucy  Smith. 

After  seven  years'  residence  in  Derby  there  was 
another  change.  Seth  Bede  invented  a  power  loom 
for  the  weaving  of  sundry  wares,  such  as  braids,  tapes, 
and  laces,  which  heretofore  had  been  only  wrought  by 
hand.  Along  with  two  partners  he  now  became  pro- 
prietor of  a  factory,  which,  happily,  is  going  still,  and 
has  been  several  times  extended.  The  question  was 
as  to  where  the  manufactory  should  be  planted. 
Through  conducting  special  services  there,  both  Seth 
and  Dinah  had  become  acquainted  with  the  ancient  and 
romantically  situated  town  of  Wirksworth.  They  had 
formed  affectionate  relations  with  the  Methodist 
people  of  the  neighbourhood,  and  as  there  was  an 
eligible  mill,  with  water  power,  ready  for  their  occupa- 
tion at  Millhouses  about  half  a  mile  outside  the  town, 
to  Wirksworth  they  came  ;  the  place  being  chosen  on 
spiritual  considerations  as  well  as  temporal.  From 
this  time  onward  Wirksworth  was  the  centre  of  the  life 
and  work  of  this  devoted  pair.      The  factory  is  for  ever 


OP   THE     "^^ 


UNIVERSITY 


HOLY   WORK   OF   A   WEDDED   PAIR         233 

associated  with  their  history.  The  thatched  house  of 
six  rooms,  just  across  the  Derby  road,  was  the  home  of 
such  Hfe  as  was  rarely  seen  in  any  family.  Its  parti- 
culars were  first  revealed  to  me  by  my  own  mother, 
who  had  often  been  a  visitor  there,  by  the  two  daugh- 
ters of  these  devoted  souls,  and  by  several  of  their  ser- 
vants and  workpeople.  Imagine  the  sacredness  and 
blessedness  of  Sunday  in  that  peaceful  home.  Every 
preparation  has  been  made  beforehand  for  its  due  ob- 
servance. One  of  these  is  rare  indeed.  Look  in  at 
the  parlour  table  on  the  Saturday  night.  There  you 
will  find  volumes  of  sacred  learning  arranged  in  order 
for  use  on  the  morrow.  Among  them  are  copies  of 
the  Holy  Scriptures,  Wesley's  Hymns,  a  Bible  Dic- 
tionary, Cruden's  Concordance,  and  in  great  leather- 
bound  volumes  there  are  Benson's  and  Clarke's  Com- 
mentaries. Here  was  the  apparatus  for  Sunday 
morning  selection  and  study.  The  seance  would  often 
commence  as  early  as  four  in  the  morning.  A  cup 
of  refreshing  tea  was  first  partaken  and  then  the  study 
commenced.  Portions  of  Scripture  were  selected  and 
modes  of  treatment  discussed.  The  great  commen- 
taries were  pondered,  and  God's  blessing  invoked  on 
the  various  exercises  of  the  day.  As  seven  o'clock 
approaches  you  see  neighbours  coming  to  the  house 
for  a  class-meeting.  This  Christian  home  is  a  Bethel 
indeed.^  At  eight  o'clock  the  family  assembles  for 
worship  and  breakfast.  At  nine  there  is  a  second 
class-meeting.  At  ten  the  children  of  the  neighbour- 
hood come  into  the  factory  to  be  taught  in  a  Sunday 
School  by  Seth  Bede  and  several  helpers.  As  for 
Dinah  Morris,  she,  at  this  hour,  walks  to  Wirkswortli 
to  meet  another  class.  The  morning  duties  over,  the 
family  assembles  for  the  mid-day  meal  at  twelve  o'clock. 


234         THE  TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT 

With  all  this  activity  care  is  taken  that  there  shall 
also  be,  of  set  purpose,  a  httle  time  set  apart  for  private 
communion  with  God.  The  afternoon  brings  with  it 
new  engagements.  I  have  before  me  a  plan  of  the 
Cromford  Circuit  for  1820,  lent  me  by  a  kind  friend 
whose  uncle  was  one  of  the  preachers  "  on  trial."  In 
this  case  the  places  occupy  the  first  column,  and  the 
preachers  have  their  several  numbers  for  convenient 
reference.  '*  S.  Evans  "  stands  as  No.  7,  and  to  him 
are  allotted  engagements  for  twenty-one  out  of  the 
twenty-six  Sundays  displayed  on  the  plan.  This  was 
a  very  large  share  of  the  work  for  a  local  preacher.  Nor 
was  this  all.  Engagements  were  often  made  to  take 
services  where  fresh  ground  could  be  broken.  All  this 
involved  much  walking  to  and  fro.  The  early  after- 
noon w^ould  see  the  happy  itinerants  on  their  way  to 
Cromford,  Bonsall,  Crich,  Tansley,  Middleton,  or  some 
other  place  in  the  Circuit.  Seth  Bede  tells  us  that  his 
beloved  never  complained  of  either  the  distances,  the 
weather,  or  the  roads,  but  laboured  on  with  gladness 
and  good  cheer  till  strength  failed  her  and  her  mission 
was  fulfilled.  And  yet,  how  far  this  was  from  being 
the  whole  of  her  labours  will  never  on  earth  be  told. 
Weekly  worship  w^as  held  in  the  factory  in  the  masters' 
time,  at  which  he  or  she  or  other  helpers  preached  to 
the  workers. 

Besides  all  this  public  service,  the  whole  countryside 
shared  the  blessedness  of  Dinah's  private  ministrations. 
From  the  various  classes  were  raised  up  preachers  of 
the  Gospel  and  missionaries  of  the  Cress.  One  day 
in  each  week  she  devoted  to  the  visitation  of  her  mem- 
bers in  three  several  classes.  Cromford,  over  the 
Stonnis  Eocks,  where  the  brown  gritstone  is  thrown  up 
bodily  in  the  midst  of  surrounding  limestone,  was  one 


^     OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


HOLY  WORK  OF  A  WEDDED  PAIR  237 

of  the  places  at  which  she  frequently  preached.  The 
old  chapel  is  still  a  prominent  feature  in  the  landscape. 
One  aged  worshipper  remains  who  remembers  Dinah's 
preaching  quite  distinctly.  Arkwright's  Mills,  under 
another  name,  are  still  a  picturesque  variant  in  a  ro- 
mantic setting,  and  are  mentioned  in  Adam  Bede. 
Millhouses,  Miller's  Green,  Gorsey  Bank,  Bole  Hill 
and  Wirksworth  were  the  scenes  of  her  care  and  efforts , 
which  were  really  unceasing.  As  a  sick  visitor  her 
gentle  tact  and  spiritual  feeling  made  her  pre- 
eminently useful.  Sorrow  and  suffering  w^ere  lightened 
at  her  approach,  and  divine  praises  waited  on  her  foot- 
steps and  kindled  in  her  path.  Often  she  was  nurse  as 
well  as  sick  visitor,  and  instances  are  freely  given  of 
her  taking  her  place  beside  the  weary  sufferer  and 
watching  the  whole  night  long.  In  holiest  yearning 
her  compassionate  heart  ever  turned  to  the  wretched 
and  the  lost,  and  if  any  poor  young  soul  had  been  led 
astray,  Dinah  Morris  would  lovingly  seek  her  out  and 
earnestly  strive  to  lead  her  to  the  only  place  for  the 
sinful  soul — the  feet  of  Jesus.  Her  many  ways  of 
doing  good  cannot  now  be  told.  For  more  than  thirty 
years  she  pursued  her  course  in  Wirksworth  and  its 
neighbourhood.  For  evermore  has  she  linked  her 
name  with  this  picturesque  and  quaint  old  town.  It 
is  a  blessed  history.  I  do  not  wonder  that  one  build- 
ing stands  there  to-day  as  a  "  Bede  Memorial  Chapel, 
erected  to  the  glory  of  God,  and  in  memory  of  Eliza- 
beth Evans,  immortalised  as  Dinah  Morris,"  nor  do  I 
wonder  that  in  the  Wesleyan  Ebenezer  Chapel  there  is 
a  white  marble  tablet  which  may  be  left  to  tell  its  story 
in  this  volume.  God  grant  that  many  women  who 
read  these  pages  may  be  stirred  up  to  follow  Dinah's 
example  in  using  time,  talent  and  energy  in  imparting 


238      THE   TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT 

blessing  to  multitudes,  and  in  winning  high  reward  in 
the  kingdom  of  heaven.  The  marble  tablet  credits 
Dinah  Morris  with  seventy-four  years ;  I  can  only 
make  them  to  number  seventy-three. 


BEDE    MEMORIAL    CHAPEL,    WIRKSVVORTH    (sNOWFIELd). 
"  Tlie  town  lay,  grim,  stony,  unsheltered  up  the  side  of  a  steep  hill." 

Adam  Bede,  Chap,  xxxviii. 


ERECTED    BY    NUMEROUS    FRIENDS 
TO    THE   MEMORY    OF 

ELIZABETH     EVANS, 

KMOWM   TO  THE  WORLD    AS  "DINAH   BEDCV 

WHO  DURINCMANY  YEARS   PROCLAIMED  ALIKE    IN  THE 

OfEN-AIR.THC   SANCTUARY.  AND  rROM  MOUSE  TO   MOUSE  , 

THE    LOVE    OF  CHRIST.   . 

SHE   DIED   IN    THE    LORD     MOV.    9.    1849. 

ACED     74    YEARS. 

AND  OF    SAMUEL     EVANS. HER  HUSBAND. 

WHO  WAS  ALSO  A  FAITHrUL   LOCAL    PREACHER 

AND    CLASS    LEADER. IN   THE 

METHODIST      SOCIETV. 

HE   riNiSHEO     HIS    EARTHLY   COURSE 

DECEMBER       8.   1858.   ACED    81     YEARS! 

MEMORIAL  TABLET  TO  DINAH  MORRIS  IN  EBEXEZER  WESLEYAX    CIIAPEI. 
WIRKSWORTH    (sXOWFIELD). 


CHAPTEK    XIV 
life's  labour  followed  by  sabbatic  rest  and 

PEACE 

"Through  love  to  light!     Oh,  wonderful  the  way 
That  loads  from  darkness  to  the  perfect  day — 
From  darkness  and  from  sorrow  of  the  night 
To  morning  that  comes  singing  over  the  sea  ! 
Through  love  to  light!" 

' '  In  the  course  of  these  last  twenty  years  I  have  many 
times  been  brought  apparently  nigh  unto  death,  inso- 
much that  my  dear  friends  have  stood  expecting  me  to 
die.  At  all  such  times  I  have  been  visited  with  a 
manifestation  of  the  divine  approbation  concerning 
these  things  (her  public  ministry),  but  what  grieves  me 
most  is  that  I  have  had  so  little  zeal  and  love,  and 
that  I  have  not  been  more  useful  and  holy." 

In  these  solemn  words  does  Dinah  Morris  close  her 
autobiography,  as  written  in  18'2o.  They  well  repre- 
sent the  whole  spirit  of  her  gracious  life.  How  many 
incidents  have  those  who  knew  her  related  to  me,  set- 
ting forth  her  genuine  self-denial,  intense  loving-kind- 
ness and  brave  daring  in  the  prosecution  of  her  work. 
Here  is  one  related  by  Mr.  A.  Chadwick.  When  but 
a  boy  he  and  a  schoolfellow,  foi  one  day  only,  played 
truant.  Toward  the  evening  a  mighty  storm  arose. 
The  thunders  shook  the  earlh.   while  the  lightnings. 

17  ^41 


^42      THE   TRUE   STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

flamed  in  the  sky.  The  two  boys  were  near  to  the 
house  which  sheltered  Dinah  Morris.  She  called  them 
in  to  take  refuge  with  her.  Both  of  them  shook  with 
solemn  dread  and  cow^ered  around  her  knees.  Instantly 
she  became  their  comforter,  spoke  soothing  words  and 
implored  Heaven's  blessing.  With  a  hand  on  each 
prostrate  head  she  sang  in  a  clear  and  sympathetic 
voice  : 

''The  God  that  rules  on  high. 

That  thunders  when  He  please ; 
That  rides  upon  the  stormy  sky, 

And  manages  the  seas : 
This  awful  God  is  ours, 

Our  Father  and  our  Love ; 
He  will  send  down  His  heavenly  powers 

To  carry  us  above." 

I  think  this  incident  forms  a  pretty  little  idyll  and  is 
worthy  of  record  here. 

Old  Benjamin  Poyser,  in  1881,  gave  me  a  story  of 
Dinah,  indicative  of  shrewd,  practical  wisdom  com- 
bined with  strong  human  feeling.  Poyser  was  a  work- 
man at  the  factory  and  was  making  love  to  the  servant 
at  the  factory  house.      "  Benjamin,"  she  said,  "  if  you 

and wish  to  talk  to  each  other  I  have  no  objection , 

and  you  are  always  w^elcome  to  a  yard  of  the  hearth- 
stone. Don't  walk  in  the  lanes  after  dark,  and  don't 
use  your   Sundays  for  courtship.       You   are  always 

welcome  to  come  and  see in  the  kitchen."      This 

courtship  led  to  a  happy  life  union.  Poyser  remem- 
bered Seth  Bede  opening  the  factory  at  Millhouses,  and 
himself  became  a  worker  at  nine  years  of  age  !  He 
said  Seth  Bede  was  one  of  a  thousand  for  forgiving 
injuries.  If  one  had  done  him  a  wrong  he  would  go 
out  of  his  way  to  do  such  person  a  kindness.     If  men 


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Hi 

PARISH    CHURCH,    WIRKSWORTH    (SNOWFIELD). 

(Snowfield)  that  bare  heap  o'  stones  as  the  very  crows  fly  over  an'  won't  stop  at." 

Mrs.  Poyser,  Chap.  xliv. 


>^^^-' 


OP 


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II  EST   AND    PEACE  245 

had  animosity  one  to  another  he  would  ^o  and  reason 
with  them,  and  so  make  peace.  The  mill-pond  and 
feeder  contained  fine  Derbyshire  trout.  Every  Whit- 
suntide the  water  was  run  out  and  many  fish  captured. 
The  w^orkmen  w^ere  always  invited  to  bring  their 
baskets  and  share  in  the  catch.  Seth  Bede  also  was  a 
diligent  visitor  of  the  sick  as  well  as  his  wife,  and  when 
no  longer  able  to  go  forth  on  his  preaching  excursions 
this  exercise  found  him  delightful  employment. 
Friends  interested  in  his  house-to-house  mission  assis- 
ted him  in  supplying  the  material  necessities  of  the 
poor,  and  so  calmly  and  usefully  life  lengthened  to  its 
close.      It  was  a  beautiful  and  blessed  life. 

Dinah  had  dreams  and  visions,  intuitions  and  im- 
pressions of  a  preternatural  kind.  She  moved  in  a 
world  of  spiritual  influences  all  her  own.  A  lady  I 
met  with  in  Buxton  revived  the  recollection  of  a  story 
my  mother  had  told  me  when  a  boy.  In  one  of  her 
dreams  Dinah  imagined  herself  preaching  in  a  place 
which  was  strange  to  her.  She  saw  the  building,  and 
marked  the  features  and  even  the  dresses  of  many  of 
the  hearers.  A  sweet  spring  of  bright,  sparkling  w^ater 
appeared  to  her  view,  from  which  a  stream  issued,  and, 
wherever  the  w^aters  came,  the  country  was  covered 
with  green  and  flowers.  Immediately  after  two  men 
came  from  a  mining  village  to  implore  her  to  go  and 
hold  special  services  there  because  of  the  spiritual 
dearth  and  drunkenness  that  prevailed.  She  con- 
sented and  fixed  the  time  for  the  services.  The  distance 
was  too  far  to  walk,  and  she  was  driven  to  and  fro  by 
Isaac  Walker,  one  of  the  factory  men,  who  was  him- 
self an  acceptable  local  preacher.  Immediately  on  be- 
holding the  scene  of  her  labours  the  dream  recurred  to 
her,  and  on  entering  the  building  she  saw  in  actual 


246      THE   TRUE   STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

vision  the  very  faces  she  had  looked  upon  in  her  dream. 
The  happy  augury  of  the  waters  was  graciously  ful- 
filled in  the  impartation  of  spiritual  blessing,  for,  be- 
fore the  day's  services  had  closed,  a  deep  movement 
had  commenced  which  extended  as  the  days  went  on. 
She  had  to  go  again  and  again,  and  several  adjoining 
villages  were  touched  by  the  revival. 

Another  incident  was  narrated  by  my  Buxton  friend. 
Dinah  Morris  was  ill  of  acute  rheumatism  and  was  so 
prostrate  that  she  could  not  turn  herself  on  her  bed. 
But  the  time  was  at  hand  for  the  fulfilment  of  an  en- 
gagement to  conduct  special  services  at  Bakewell.  She 
was  deeply  distressed  at  the  thought  of  her  incapacity, 
and  wrestled  with  God  all  night  in  earnest  prayer. 
She  obtained  from  the  Lord  Himself,  as  she  believed, 
the  power  to  go  and  fulfil  her  mission.  Nothing  could 
now  restrain  her.  Her  faith  conquered  her  infirmity. 
She  was  again  entrusted  to  the  care  of  the  faithful 
Isaac  Walker,  conducted  two  services  with  great  spiri- 
tual power,  and  on  the  return  journey  was  not  spared  a 
downpour  which  drenched  her  to  the  skin.  Neverthe- 
less, it  was  her  proud  boast  that  no  injury  resulted  from 
this  bold  venture,  and  the  rheumatic  fever  had  departed 
for  ever.  How  real  to  her  sensitive  feeling  was  the 
living  God,  and  how  near !  How  transcendent  was 
the  power  of  prayer !  available  at  all  times  and  in  all 
exigencies. 

My  Buxton  friend  had  very  clear  recollections  of  the 
extended  visit  paid  to  Wirks worth  by  George  Eliot, 
mentioned  in  an  earlier  chapter.  She  repeatedly  saw 
the  aunt  and  niece,  arm-in-arm,  walking  across  the 
market-place  to  call  on  Mrs.  Walker,  Dinah  Morris's 
daughter.  She  knew  well  of  the  long  seance  in  Mrs. 
Walker's  parlour,  when  George  Eliot  wrote  down  the 


HOISE     OF      MR      SAMUEL     EVANS,     JUNR.,      IN'     THE      MARKET     PLACE, 
WIRKSWORTH    (sXOWFIELD'J  AT    WHICH    GEORGE  ELIOT    WAS  RECEIVED 
AS    A   GUEST. 

"...  the  brethren  and  sisters  at  Snowfield  who  are  favoured  with  very  little  of  this 
world's  pood  :  where  the  trees  are  few,  so  that  a  child  might  count  them,  and  tliere's  very 
hard  living  for  the  poor  in  the  winter."     Adam  Bede,  Chap  ii. 


V^  OF  THE 

UNIVERSITY 

OF 


JIEST   AND   PEACE^^^klT-i :  249 


account  related  to  her  of  the  aunt's  strange  experiences. 
On  the  occasion  of  this  visit  she  was  the  ^uest  of  her 
cousin  ]\Ir.  Samuel  Evans,  (the  son  of  Seth  Bede 
and  Dinah  Morris)  who  was  a  manufacturer  of 
silk  velvet  and  the  proprietor  of  a  draper's  shop  in  the 
Wirksworth  market-place.  From  this  house  every 
afternoon  George  Eliot  found  her  way  to  Miller's 
Green,  where  Seth  Bede  and  Dinah  Morris  were  then 
residing.  My  informant  could  never  have  the  slightest 
doubt  as  to  how  Dinah  Morris  came  to  be  the  heroine 
of  Adam  Bede. 

One  episode  in  the  career  of  Seth  and  Dinah  I  do  not 
like  to  dwell  upon— their  separation  for  several  years 
from  the  Wesleyan  Church.  This  event,  which  I  can- 
not but  regret,  arose  from  the  position  in  the  denomina- 
tion to  which  the  female  evangelist  had  been  relegated, 
which  had  all  along  been  a  very  sore  point.  Doubtless, 
the  superintendent  minister  in  each  circuit  had  con- 
siderable discretion  in  the  matter.  Some  of  them  in- 
terpreted the  minute  of  1803  more  rigidly  than  others. 
Some  still  allowed  the  preaching,  even  in  mixed  con- 
gregations. Nevertheless,  the  fact  that  Mrs.  Taft  and 
Dinah  Morris  had  been  tolerated  as  preachers  became 
an  occasion  of  reproach  and  rebuke  in  the  Conference, 
two  of  the  highest  personages  in  that  assembly 
having  taken  up  a  very  hostile  attitude.  The 
relation  of  Dinah  Morris  with  her  superintendent 
pastors  would  appear  to  have  been  most  cordial. 
Still,  female  evangelism  was  all  but  proscribed, 
and  this  became  a  burden  both  to  herself  and 
her  husband.  In  Derby  there  arose,  through  a 
split,  a  branch  of  Methodism  which  never  extended  far. 
nor  did  it  attain  to  any  great  dimensions.  This  people 
called  themselves  "  Arminian  Methodists,"  they  were 


250      THE   TRUE   STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

also  known  as  the  Derby  Faith.  They  allowed  full 
privileges  to  women  preachers.  Seth  Bede  and  Dinah 
Morris  united  themselves  to  this  secession,  not  because 
she  was  refused  liberty  to  use  her  talents  among 
the  Methodist  people,  but  because  a  stigma  attached 
to  woman's  ministry,  and  she  would  not  continue  to 
use  her  privilege  while  others  of  her  sex  were  for- 
bidden. For  this  reason  the  painful  separation  took 
place  and  continued  for  some  years.  I  have  before  me 
a  letter  written  to  our  friends  in  1836  in  the  name  of 
two  female  evangelists  who  were  Arminian  Methodists, 
and  it  is  characterised  by  the  same  rapturous  zeal 
which  marked  the  life  of  Dinah  Morris.  It  was  writ- 
ten after  a  visit  paid  to  Wirksworth.  It  would  seem 
that  Dinah  Morris  had  full  liberty  of  prophesying 
among  the  Arminian  Methodists  without  any  reserva- 
tion whatever.  There  is  an  Arminian  Methodist 
Preachers'  Plan  of  the  Derby  Circuit  extant,  on  which 
the  name  of  "  Evans,  Wirksworth,"  appears.  To 
which  of  the  Evanses  this  relates  one  can  hardly  tell. 
Wirksworth  was  not  one  of  the  places  in  the  Derby  Cir- 
cuit, or  probably  we  should  find  that  both  names  had 
been  included.  Probably,  "  Evans,  Wirksworth," 
meant  that  Seth  Bede  was  an  auxiliary  preacher  of  the 
Derby  Circuit,  having  separate  appointments  on  a  plan 
which  included  Wirksw^orth.  At  all  events,  a  building 
is  pointed  out  at  Warmbrook,  in  the  town,  which  was 
for  some  years  the  Arminian  Methodist  Chapel.  There 
Dinah  Morris  frequently  preached,  and  there  are  those 
yet  living  who  repeatedly  heard  her  ministrations 
therein.  It  is  now  a  wheelwright's  w^orkshop.  In  the 
course  of  only  a  few  years  the  Wirksworth  Arminian 
Methodists,  as  well  as  the  body  generally,  were  united 
with  an  offshoot  of  the  Wesleyan  Body  called  **  The 


L 


ARMINIAN    METHODIST    PREACHERS     PLAN. 


REST   AND    PEACE  263 

Methodist  Association,"  which  was  originated  in  1835, 
principally  by  one  Dr.  Warren,  concerning  the  found- 
ing of  Methodist  Colleges.  This  denomination,  later 
on,  combined  with  the  Methodist  Reformers  of  1849  to 
form  the  United  Methodist  Free  Churches.  Before 
this  took  place,  however,  Seth  Bede  and  Dinah  Morris 
had  found  their  way  back  into  the  old  moorings,  and 
both  of  them  died  in  communion  with  the  Wesleyan 
Methodist  Church. 

Her  death  was  transcendently  beautiful.  It  requires 
the  pen  of  a  George  Eliot  to  do  justice  to  it.  For  some 
three  or  four  years  her  public  ministrations  had  ceased 
for  sheer  lack  of  physical  strength.  Indeed,  she  was 
now  over  seventy  years  of  age,  and  had  toiled  with  un- 
remitting energy  for  nearly  half  a  century.  Dr. 
Chalmers  said  that  he  wished  fof  a  sabbatic  close  to  his 
life,  just  such  as  was  given  to  his  mother.  This  was 
ranted  Dinah  Morris.  How  well  I  remember  my 
mother  describing  to  us  what  she  saw  at  her  death-bed. 
When  the  enthusiasms  of  active  labour  had  ceased  a 
sabbatic  rest  followed,  and  then  came  the  end.  There 
was  no  apparent  disease,  only  a  gradual  fading  away, 
with  a  spiritual  experience  little  short  of  heaven  itself. 
Long  before  this  time  she  had  attracted  the  attention 
of  some  of  the  great  ones  of  the  earth.  A  Mr.  Foster, 
who  knew  her,  a  member  of  the  Society  of  Friends, 
had  reported  her  good  works  to  that  marvellous  woman 
of  kindred  spirit,  Mrs.  Elizabeth  Fry.  This  devoted 
philanthropic  worker  made  a  pilgrimage  to  Derbyshire 
that  she  might  hold  communion  with  Dinah  iMorris  in 
person.  This  visit  led  to  loving  correspondence,  ex- 
tending over  several  years.  There  was  also  one  Lady 
Lucy  Smith,  a  well-known  Christian  philanthropist, 
who  also  sought  her  out,  delighted  in  her  fellowship, 


to 


254      THE   TRUE   STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

and    in    like    manner    established    a    correspondence 
with  her. 

The  end  came  in  1849.  As  it  approached  she  mani- 
fested her  resolute  determination  that  all  the  material 
which  any  biographer  might  found  memoirs  upon 
should  be  ruthlessly  destroyed.     Her  desire  w^as  that 


SAMUEL    GREEN  S    TIMBER    YARD,    WATERHOUSES. 
Great  Grandson  of  George  Evans  (Thlas  Bede.) 

no  word  should  be  spoken  or  written  in  praise  of  the 
creature.  Hence,  with  stern  command  she  had  several 
bundles  of  letters  consumed  before  her  eyes.  There 
was  one  such  bundle  from  Mrs.  Fry,  another  from 
Lady  Lucy  Smith,  another  from  sundry  admiring 
friends,  but  all  had  to  be  destroyed.  Another  com- 
mand was  given.  Her  children  were  assembled  around 
her  bed  when  she  commanded  that  no  memorial  should 
be  erected  about  her  grave,  and  that  they  should  use 


REST   AND   PEACE  255 

their  money  for  service  to  the  living  rather  than  in 
raising  memorials  to  the  dead.  When  she  was  laid  in 
her  coffin  two  gentlemen ,  strangers  to  the  town ,  begged 
that  they  nii^ht  be  allowed  to  take  a  last  look  at  her 
face.  Thirty  years  previously  they  had  gone  to  a  ser- 
vice which  she  had  conducted  for  the  purpose  of 
turning  it  to  ridicule.  While  so  engaged  their  minds 
were  arrested,  and  they  who  came  to  sport  remained  to 
pray.  There,  in  the  presence  of  the  dead,  they  to- 
gether praised  God  for  what  she  had  been  as  a  preacher 
of  the  gospel  of  love,  and  for  the  blessed  life  which 
they  had  found  through  her  instrumentality. 
/  I  remember  well  my  mother's  description  of  Seth 
Eede's  consolation  and  submission  in  a  bereavement 
which  took  away  from  him  one  who,  as  George  Eliot 
had  said ,  had  been  as  the  light  of  his  eyes  for  so  long  a 
period.  On  her  account  he  said  he  could  not  shed  one 
tear.  He  could  only  bless  God  for  all  she  had  been  to 
him  these  forty-six  years,  and  for  all  that  she  had  been 
'to'  so  many  others.  Concerning  her  promotion  and 
exaltation  in  the  presence  of  her  Lord ,  he  could  not  en- 
tertain one  moment's  doubt.  Her  joy  was  fulfilled  in 
beholding  the  glory  of  the  Redeemer,  and  he  was  as 
sure  of  a  speedy  re-union  with  her  as  he  was  of  her 
perfected  bliss  in  Paradise.  I  was  only  a  boy  at  the 
time,  but  I  remember  how  the  experiences  of  both 
Seth  and  Dinah  struck  me  as  a  remarkable  triumph  of 
faith.  Her  body  was  laid  to  rest  in  the  old  church- 
yard at  Wlrksworth,  the  whereabouts  has  been  pointed 
out  to  me,  but  the  precise  grave  no  man  knoweth,  for 
the  register  of  this  time  is  said  to  have  been  lost,  and 
there  is  no  monument.  And  yet,  in  a  way  of  which 
she  cannot  have  had  the  faintest  conception,  a  monu- 
ment, has  been  raised  to  her  beloved  memory,  more 


Jafe<=W- 


256     .THE    T 


STORY 


U] 

iW  creed,! 
eri;ifiai 
e  redl 
Morril 
s  of  menu 
eif  eyes  \i 
inspi 


enduring  tli.|^Durni 

whiteafc     marble 

cunniag    skill 

monument    ciiicums 

stricted  to 

earth  ,\  and 

Dinah 

but  th 

with  th 

moiste 

with 

the  fape 

Wftit  M'as  1 
woman  the  beca 
education,  nap^e 
great  cjiffl^etJfal  ch 
a  scuipture^*^ 
thaHquilding 
aMa"^{^^l  to  be 
?or  thaH^tpoSi 
decline 
that  eve 
in  a  remo 
tude,  the 
in  the  mi 
artists  fr 
he  wroiwit 
clinibi^s)o^'l 
Yi^iiv^^^jny  eac 
isual,  an 
^ed  on  a  face  h 
the  face  of  a  wo 
life.     She  had 
away,  and  he  h 


T 


tORGEFlELIOT 

'e  than  the 

it     by     the 

\o    well,    a 

and    re- 

?ad   in|wert  mrt   of   the 

re  worm'silie^Bjiterature. 

in  1849, 

pleads 

fcvard , 

'ir  l»iLts 

Ity  anclhope 

ie  her  tl^e  might] 
ffty  birth,  superiorj 
d  position.     In  tl 
Q,  Norway,  theurG  n 
L)le  history^/wWi 
'  ^?ame 


fictioi 

^s  theJi 

tears"^ 


w^as 
nor  e; 


■i^h 


hi^  request 
and  IVp  was  an  artist, 
te^lallot^d  l:^im  a  block 
where\m  ihtrt  high  lati- 
upon  it  oHnng  six  weeks 
In  those  weejts,  however, 
ds  nia'^)e  seen  copying  the  work 
ullv  iho  ohLman  accepted  his  task, 
tvn^^t'ach  morning,  and 
n.^^^M^yie  did  not  come 
idv^^^^H^^^  open  eyes 
elV d  n^^H|^^^I t 
a  twnin  he  n^A^W^^^^rly 
im,^kt\death  hl^^^tcnecPHer 
lerish^Bue  fond  in^0^11  these 


\ 


GEORGE    GREEN,    OF   WATERHOUSES. 
A  carpenter  and  builder,  grandson  of  George  Evans  (Thias  Bede.J 


18 


01 


XAa^^ 


"<,    .t'^y^-Xc^ 


^JLtH/^o.-^^^  ,?i^^;.^.^:^'«--«^--^ 


^     Q^ THE 


REST   AND   PEACE  259 

years.  He  knew  himself  to  be  a  dying  man,  he  knew 
also  that  his  art  would  be  buried  with  him  in  the 
grave,  he  was  therefore  resolved  that  the  last  work 
of  his  hand  should  be  to  carve  the  features  of  the 
woman  so  dear  to  his  heart  in  speaking  stone.  When 
the  attention  of  the  chief  architect  had  been  called  to 
the  circumstance  he  gathered  the  other  artists  around 
him  and  said:  "Gentlemen,  do  you  see  that  face? 
That  is  the  finest  piece  of  work  in  this  cathedral,  and 
it  is  the  work  of  love." 

That  is,  in  one  w^ord,  the  power  which  gave  us  Dinah 
Morris.  Her  whole  nature  was  possessed,  refined  and 
etherealised  by  divine  love.  She  has  become  what  she 
is  now  in  the  world  simply  by  the  power  of  love.  What 
wonders  would  that  same  love  work  in  us  if  only  we 
were  surrendered  to  its  transforming  power !  Seth 
Bede  had  his  sabbatic  years,  even  as  Dinah  had,  de- 
parting hence  in  the  fulness  of  peace  in  1858,  just  as 
Adam  Bede  was  preparing  to  astonish  the  literary 
world.  A  saintlier  soul  than  he,  and  a  holier  and 
happier  pair  than  these  two,  I  know^  not  where  to  find. 
George  Eliot  has  enriched  the  spiritual  life  of  the  race 
by  her  portrayal  of  these  characters;  and,  as  she  was 
thankful  to  have  written  so  true  a  book,  so  may  all  be 
thankful  to  have  such  fine  treasure  made  over  to  us  in 
its  pages.  Those  who  in  any  degree  belong  to  the 
stock  of  the  Bedes,  may  be  thankful  for  their  share  in 
a  family  history  which  bears  such  fruit  in  its  branches. 
The  book  is  a  vital  and  entrancing  poem  which  shows 
how  from  lowly  surroundings  a  light  may  shine  forth 
which  shall  irradiate  the  world.  The  Bedes,  originally 
were  carpenters  and  builders,  and  some  of  their  des- 
cendants still,  even  to  the  fifth  generation,  follow  the 
same    occupation.       The    photograph    on    page    254 


260     THE    TRUE   STORY    OF    GEORGE    ELIOT  ' 

gives  a  view  of  premises  which  were  the  property 
as  well  as  the  home  of  my  grandmother,  the  sister  of 
Adam  and  Seth  Bede.  In  the  house  here  represented, 
I  heard,  sixty  years  ago,  many  stories  of  Thias  and 


LEIGH    HOUSE,    WATERHOUSES. 


Lisbeth  Bede,  Adam  and  Seth,  with  other  members  of 
the  Evans  family.  For  more  than  a  century  it  has 
been  the  centre  of  a  building  trade,  and  is  to  thiF 
day  occupied  by  a  relative  of  mine,  who  is,  like  myself. 
a  great-grandson  .of  Thias  Bede  the  carpenter.  It  i^ 
situated  at  Waterhouses,  just  over  the  Weaver  HillB 
from  Ellastone  (Hayslope).     The  home  of  my  youth 


« 


REST   AND   PEACE  261 

the  happy,  loving  home  of  my  father  and  mother,  and 
to  this  day  the  home  of  my  beloved  brother  is  just 
across  the  turnpike  road,  and  is  pictured  on  the 
opposite  page.  With  these  views  of  scenes  so  near 
and  dear  to  my  heart,  I  close  this  series  of  articles  on 
The  True  Storv  of  Seth  Bede  and  Dinah  Morris. 


CHAPTEE    XV 

THE   MARRIAGE   UNION    OF    GEORGE   H.    LEWES    WITH 
MARY   ANN   EVANS    (GEORGE   ELIOT) 

"  Man,  while  he  loves,   is  never  quite  depraved, 
And  woman's  triumph  is  a  lover  saved." — Lamb, 

The  reputation  of  a  great  teacher  is  of  importance  to 
the  whole  community.  George  Eliot  is  surely  one  of 
these.  In  Hterature,  for  a  generation,  she  has  been  a 
preacher  of  world-wide  influence.  In  every  one  of  her 
books  she  not  only  preaches  to  us  in  propria  persona, 
but  has  also  the  faculty  of  making  her  characters 
preach.  Take  for  example  her  story  of  Adam  Bede, 
confessedly  founded  on  family  reminiscences.  Here 
we  make  acquaintance  with  several  characters  who, 
in  their  way  are  very  effective  preachers.  The  hero  of 
the  book  favours  us  with  many  a  homily.  In  the  work 
shop  at  Hayslope  Adam  preaches  to  his  fellow-work 
men  of  the  dignity  of  labour.  To  Arthur  Donni 
thorne  he  discourses  on  the  need  of  a  strong,  firm  will 
in  the  conduct  of  life,  as  contrasted  with  the  moral 
dangers  attendant  on  the  flabby  condition  of  moral 
see-saw  : 


:| 


ii 


GEORGE     HENRY    LEWES. 

_       Reproduced  from  an  Engraving  presented  by  Mr.   G.  H.  Lewes  to  his  friend,  Robert 
Browning,  now  in  the  possession  of  Mr.  (}.  J.  Hojyoake. 


MARRIAGE   WITH   GEORGE   H.    LEWES       265 

**  I've  seen  pretty  clear,  ever  since  I  could  cast  up  a  sum, 
as  you  can  never  do  what's  wrong  without  breeding  sin  and 
trouble  more  than  you  can  ever  see.  It's  like  a  bit  o'  bad 
workmanship — you  never  see  the  end  o'  th'  mischief  it'll  do. 
And  it's  a  poor  lookout  to  come  into  the  world  to  make  your 
fellow  creatures  worse  oflF  instead  o'  better." 

This  is  only  one  of  Adam's  sensible  manly  sermons. 
Dinah  Morris  is  another  of  the  preachers.  Her  sermon 
preached  on  the  green  at  Hayslope.  setting  forth  the 
pitying  compassion  and  tender  love  of  God  towards  the 
sinful  and  the  poor  is  one  of  the  finest  specimens  of 
pleading  pathos  and  yearning  compassion  to  be  found 
in  literature.  Mrs.  Poyser  is  a  preacher  of  another 
sort — quaint,  droll,  pungent,  and  severe — but  a 
preacher  all  the  same,  whose  homely  talks,  so  full  of 
merriment  and  wit  are  nevertheless  charged  with 
serious  purpose  and  sparkle  wdth  gems  of  practical 
wisdom. 

On  every  page  she  has  written  George  Eliot 
shows  herself  a  shrewd  and  searching  preacher,  whose 
audience  is  secure  for  ages  and  whose  prelections  have 
found  their  way  into  the  leading  languages  of  mankind. 
An  impression  is  afloat  that  her  popularity  has  waned. 
If  this  be  so,  how  does  it  happen  that  twenty  years 
after  her  decease,  on  the  expiration  of  copyright  in 
some  of  her  books,  new  editions  continue  to  issue  from 
the  press?  How  is  it  that  everything  concerning 
George  Eliot's  personality  and  her  work  is  read  with 
undiminished  avidity?  In  August,  1902,  there  was 
issued  a  "George  Eliot"  number  of  The  Bookmaifi. 
In  a  comparatively  few  days  the  w^hole  edition  was  sold 
out  and  many  would-be  purchasers  failed  to  procure 
copies.  In  November  of  the  same  year,  there  appeared 
the  first  number  of  a  very  popular  journal,  T.P.'s 
Weekly.       The  paper  came  with  a  chorus  of  universal 


266      THE   TRUE   STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

favour.  No  one  seemed  surprised  that  its  first  article 
should  have  been  The  Tragedy  of  George  Eliot  by  T.P. 
himself.  If  the  premises  of  the  article  had  been  un- 
assailable its  conclusions  would  have  been  irresistible. 
There  is,  however,  as  I  venture  to  think,  another  side 
to  the  tragedy.  T.P.  was  not  to  be  wholly  blamed  if 
he  did  not  see  all  of  that  other  side.  He  had  a  bio- 
graphy of  George  Eliot  before  him,  constructed  for  the 
most  part  out  of  her  own  diaries  and  letters,  and  upon 
these  carefully  edited  documents  he  framed  his  own 
theory  and  drew  his  conclusions.  All  this  is  legitimate 
enough.  The  writer  of  George  Eliot's  biography,  her 
surviving  husband,  Mr.  J.  W.  Cross,  was  influenced 
by  high  and  chivalrous  motives  in  introducing  with  so 
much  self-restraint  his  narrative  of  the  union  of  George 
H.  Lewes  and  George  Eliot.  Twenty-four  years  have 
now  flown  by  since  the  lady  died.  Her  books  main- 
tain a  potent  influence  over  the  thoughts  and  lives  of 
men.  The  teachers  of  religion  study  them  and  make 
quotations  from  them.  Four  separate  biographies  of 
the  author,  besides  numerous  biographic  sketches,  have 
been  given  to  the  world.  Unnumbered  essays  on  her 
teachings  and  her  philosophy  have  appeared  in  reviews, 
newspapers,  magazines.  No  author  is  more  written 
about  than  George  Eliot.  And,  withal,  there  remains 
the  impression  of  tragedy  in  her  life,  of  rebellion 
against  the  laws  of  society,  and  of  a  private  life  of  sin 
altogether  opposed  to  the  teaching  of  her  pen.  From 
every  point  of  view  the  case  is  serious.  Here  is  a 
public  teacher  of  universal  fame  and  a  dark  shadow 
projecting  itself  on  her  memory,  so  that  the  eloquent 
T.P.  sums  up  the  matter  thus  : 

"George  Eliot's  heart  and  George  Eliot  s  life  were  in  con- 
stant, though  perhaps  silent  and  unheard,  conflict,  that  her 


MARRIAGE   WITH   GEORGE   H.    LEWES       267 

message  to  the  world  is  that  her  precept  and  not  her  example 
must  be  followed;  in  other  words,  her  works  are  her  penance 
and  atonement." 

This,  however,  is  far  from  being  all  that  must  needs 
be  stated.  It  has  come  to  be  a  fashion  in  some  quar- 
ters to  set  George  Eliot  in  the  pillory  as  proof  of  the 
moral  blindness  and  spiritual  obliquity  which  are  con- 
sequent on  disbelief  in  the  inspiration  and  authority  of 
holy  scripture.  I  am  myself  a  satisfied  believer,  but 
we  need  be  sure  that  w^e  are  quite  just  in  our  judgment 
of  those  who,  through  intellectual  difficulties,  have  re- 
jected the  faith  which  we  hold  dear.  I  have  found 
as  fine  a  sense  of  honour  and  as  lofty  a  morality  among 
some  of  these  as  are  to  be  seen  in  the  most  strictly  orth- 
odox circles.  In  setting  down  the  beliefs  of  Agnostics 
as  a  cause  of  immorality  we  should  be  supremely  careful 
of  our  facts  to  begin  with.  In  a  periodical  of  two  years 
ago  I  read  a  very  confident  article  which  held  up 
George  Eliot  as  a  fearful  warning  of  the  tendency  of 
unbelief  to  produce  immoral  life.  Had  the  author 
known  all  the  facts  of  the  case  I  think  he  would  have 
modified  his  harsh  judgment.  In  the  case  of  a  more 
ambitious  effort  the  same  remarks  apply.  Two  years 
after  the  appearance  of  The  Life  of  George  Eliot  by 
her  husband,  the  Eev.  W.  L.  Watkinson  wrote  a 
volume  entitled  :  The  Influence  of  Scepticism  on 
Character,  in  which  George  Eliot  is  exhibited  as  one  of 
the  dreadful  examples.  The  following  quotations  will 
show  the  spirit  and  power  of  the  attack  : 

"  It  was  with  this  all  important  institution  (marriage)  that 

George  Eliot  trifled,   and  by  consenting  to  live  with  a  man 

whose  wife  was  still  alive  she  lent  her  vast  influence  to  the 

lowering  in  the  national  mind  of  the  sense  of  marital  obligar 

'tion  which  involves  the  happiness  and  dignity  of  millions." 


268      THE   TRUE   STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

"  The  two  chosen  representatives  of  the  superior  morality  set 
aside  truth  for  a  lie,  preferred  their  own  will  and  pleasure  to 
purity  and  justice,  and  exalted  their  lawless  fancy  above  a 
palpable  public  duty,  and  lived  together  in  adultery." 

**  This  was  the  disgrace  of  her  life  and  the  condemnation  of 
her  philosophy." 


"  The  wronged  wife  in  the  background  always  makes  herself 
felt ;  the  torn  veil  is  on  the  floor  no  matter  what  gaieties  may 
be  going  on,  and  one  is  conscious  of  a  sickening  sensation  all 
through  the  history." 


All  this  is  scathing  and  severe.  On  the  basis  of  the 
statements  of  George  Eliot's  biographers  I  am  not  sure 
that  it  is  altogether  unjust.  Hence  my  feeling  that 
the  time  has  come  for  a  freer  and  fuller  statement  than 
has  yet  been  made  public.  The  case  is  even  more 
serious  from  another  point  of  view.  The  Editor  of 
the  Revietv  of  Revietvs  told  us,  some  years  ago,  that 
the  selfish  corrupters  of  female  innocence  were  plead- 
ing the  example  of  this  great  woman  as  an  excuse  for 
their  own  misdoings,  and  that  women  were  discarding 
their  marital  obligations  towards  their  husbands  and 
their  homes,  excusing  themselves  for  their  unlawful 
connections,  and  calling  it  "  living  a  la  George  Eliot." 
Thus,  the  matter  becomes  more  and  more  urgent. 
All  this  was  foreseen  long  years  ago.  One  learned 
gentleman  known  to  me  for  many  years,  a  scholar  of 
fine  attainments,  a  man  of  lofty  principles  and  pure 
morality,  to  whom  all  the  parties  and  all  the  facts  were 
intimately  known,  spoke  to  me  on  several  occasions 
with  hot  indignation  of  what  he  deemed  to  be  the  mis- 
taken pohcy  of  withholding  the  simple  statement  of 
the  actual  facts  involved  in  the  story.      He  judged  that 


MARRIAGE   WITH   GEORGE   H.    LEWES       269 

a  deplorable  injury  to  public  morality  had  been  the 
consequence  of  this  error.  The  authority  to  whom 
I  refer  is  the  late  Professor  Francis  W.  Newman.  His 
recollections  were  clear  as  crystal  and  his  mind  acute 
and  penetrating.  This  gentleman  as  he  became  known 
to  her  stood  exceedingly  high  in  the  esteem  of  George 
Eliot.  At  a  very  early  period  of  her  literary  career 
she  wrote  of  him  thus  : 


"  Thank  you  for  a  sight  of  our  blessed  St.  Francis's  letter. 
There  is  no  imaginable  moment  in  which  the  thought  of  such 
a  being  could  be  an  intrusion.     His  soul  is  a  blessed  i/ctz." 

"  He  is  a  pure,  noble  being,  and  it  is  good  only  to  look  at 
such." 

Professor  Newman  did  not  stand  alone  in  the  judg- 
ment I  have  chronicled.  About  the  same  time  the 
Christian  World,  in  a  powerful  and  searching  leader, 
said  : 

*'  There  seems  to  be  a  kind  of  falsity  in  avoiding  a  discussion 
of  what  was  one  of  the  main  and  central  facts  of  Ler 
existence." 

"  In  the  first  place,  one  or  two  very  important  facts  are 
undisputed  ;  in  the  second  place,  the  public  have  a  right  to 
press  the  relatives  of  George  Eliot  for  further  information." 

*'  It  is  fair  neither  to  the  present  nor  to  succeeding  genera- 
tions that  an  unsolved  problem  should  be  left  to  become  in- 
soluble. We  are  checked  by  the  absence  of  evidence  as  to  Mr. 
Lewes' s  relations  with  his  wife.  A  divorce,  we  may  safely  take 
for  granted,  was  not  obtainable  by  him.  But  we  do  not  know 
whether  the  conduct  ho  had  experienced  from  his  wife  had 
been  insufferably  cruel  and  outrageous,  or  whether  she  aban- 
doned him  without  being  ill-treated." 

"  Among  the  many  guesses  the  public  have  been  left  to  make 


270      THE   TRUE   STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

a   frequent  one  has   been   that   the   real   Mrs.    Lewes   was   an 
incurable  maniac." 

"  George  Eliot  preached  the  doctrine  of  renunciation — the 
doctrine  of  self-sacrifice — the  doctrine  of  breaking  the  neck 
of  inclination,  though  stiff  as  steel,  under  the  foot  of  duty :  but 
it  was  not  given  to  her  to  give  a  transcendent  example  of  this 
Christian  virtue  in  her  own  life." 

The  paper,  anonymously  written,  from  which  these 
extracts  are  taken  is  a  fine  example  of  what  a  leading 
article  in  a  Christian  weekly  should  be,  and  its  positions 
are  unassailable. 

Our  old  friend  Truth,  in  reviewing  George  Eliot's 
biography  hit  the  mark  by  saying  : 

*'  The  editor  has  been  discreet  to  indiscretion,  and  by 
seeming  to  slip  past  it  with  averted  face  has  led  you  to  think 
the  business  worse  than  it  was." 

That  is  the  exact  position  of  affairs.  Can  the  pre- 
cious memory  of  George  Eliot  be  cleared  of  any  portion 
of  the  darkness  of  this  dense  cloud?  I  think  it  can. 
Let  us  see.  We  must  imagine  ourselves  back  in  the 
forties,  and  must  think  of  a  fast  set  of 
young  people  living  in  the  West  End  who 
maintain  very  close  relations,  are  free  in 
their  manners,  roystering  in  their  conversation, 
jovial  in  their  meetings,  and  bent  on  having  a  good 
time.  There  was  among  them  a  tendency  to  deride 
religion,  to  disregard  the  sanctity  of  the  Sunday,  and 
to  make  their  Sunday  a  day  of  merriment.  The  pre- 
vailing spirit  of  the  circle  was  Hedonism,  they  had 
voted  themselves  superior  to  the  old  ideals,  and,  both 
in  ethics  and  philosophy,  claimed  to  be  a  party  of  ad- 
vanced  thought.       Let  it  be  noted,  however,   that 


MARRIAGE   WITH   GEORGE   H.    LEWIS       271 

George  Eliot  was  never  one  of  this  party.  While  it 
was  indulging  its  audacious  freedom  she  was  safe 
within  the  close  restraints  of  her  old  Warwickshire 
home.  The  break-up  of  this  merry  circle  was  inevi- 
table from  the  first,  and  w^hen  it  came  it  was  sad 
enough,  as  described  to  me  by  Professor  Newman. 
Two  of  its  most  prominent  members  were  George 
H.  Lewes  and  a  bosom  friend  of  his  who  shall  be  name- 
less here.  In  a  general  way  this  friend  is  snoken  of 
with  kindly  memories  apart  from  this  sorrowful  busi- 
ness by  some  who  knew  him  well.  Lewes  and  he 
were  the  closest  of  companions  for  years,  co-workers 
in  literature  as  w^ell  as  intimate  in  social  life.  Both 
were  married  men  and  their  young  and  beautiful  wives 
were  members  of  this  advanced  circle  of  social  friends. 
One  who  frequently  met  with  the  party  wrote  of  Mrs. 
Lewes  as  : 

''Agnes,  George  Lewes's  wife,  that  pretty  rosebud-like 
woman." 

Alas,  it  w^as  discovered  in  course  of  time,  that 
this  fascinating  creature  had  forsaken  her  husband,  her 
home,  and  her  three  sons,  to  live  apart  under  the  pro- 
tection of  her  husband's  chosen  friend.  Friends  inter- 
vened, the  husband  forgave  her  and  she  went  back 
again.  A  second  time  she  abandoned  all  for  the  more 
attractive  company  of  her  paramour.  This  time  she 
made  it  clear  that  her  separation  was  final,  and  that 
her  marital  treason  had  been  long  continued  and  very 
desperate.  Doubtless  such  a  denouement  as  this 
might  be  regarded  as  the  natural  consequence  of  the 
prevailing  ideas  and  the  free  habits  of  this  select  circle. 
But,  at  least,  our  history  shows  that  there  was  no 
injured  woman  in  the  background.      She  herself  never 


272      THE   TRUE   STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

entertained  any  grievance  on  that  score.       In  after 
years  she  was  amply  provided  for  by  the  persons  who 
are  supposed  to  have  injured  her.       In  the  exercise  of 
her   own   inchnations   she    had    chosen    her  position. 
It    is    manifest,    therefore,    that    such    an    one  could 
have      no      claim      as      an      injured      person.         If 
anyone     were     injured     it     must     have     been     the 
husband     to     w^hom     she     proved     false, ^  the     boys 
whom  she  deprived  of  the  blessed  dowser  of  a  mother's 
love,  and  that  other  woman,  her  social  companion  and 
friend,  w^ith  w^hose  lawful  husband  she  formed  her  illicit 
connection.       It  is  somewhat  strange  that  she  out- 
lived  all  the  parties  concerned.       Against  Lewes  it 
is  alleged  that  his  ideas  had  been  lax   and   his   life 
Bohemian.        Certainly,  he  was  in   mental  rebellion 
against  orthodox  creeds  and  not  over  much  in  love 
with  the  prevailing  social  economy.       But  the  con- 
duct of  his  wife  w^as  most  flagrant.       What  man  is 
there  among  us  who  would  not  consider  himself  free 
of   such   a   wife?       What  just   law   of   God   or   man 
would   hold   a   husband   indissolubly   bound   to   her? 
All    this   happened   before   George   Eliot    came   upon 
the   scene,   indeed,   before   she   had   ever   met   with 
Lewes.        When   she   did   arrive   she   was   a   mature 
woman  of  thirty  years  of  age..       She  had   come   to 
live  in  the   Strand   in   the  house   of   Dr.    Chapman, 
editor   of  the    Westminster   Review.       George   Eliot 
was  the  assistant  editor.     George  H.  Lewes  was  one 
of  the  contributors,  and  was  thus  brought  into  con- 
tact with  the  sub-editor.       Her  first  impressions  of 
him   were   decidedly   unfavourable.        Then   she   dis- 
covered  that   under  his   flippant   and   jovial   exterior 
there   was   serious   purpose    and   moral    earnestness. 
Mutual  affection  developed.       Then  came  the  ques- 


MARRIAGE   WITH   GEORGE   H.    LEWES       27:^ 

tion  :  Shall  they  marry?  There  was,  however,  the 
legal  barrier  of  Lewes'  former  marriage.  There 
was  a  strong  and  deep  affection,  but  there  could  not 
be  a  legal  union.  Lewes  proposed  that  they  should 
be  a  law  unto  themselves  and  she  at  length  con- 
sented. She  first  carefully  considered  whether  in 
doing  this  thing  she  would  be  violating  the  rights  of 
any  sister  woman,  and  concluded  that  no  such  charge 
could  lie  at  her  door.  Under  what  forms  then  could 
the  union  desired  by  the  parties  be  brought  about? 
To  such  as  hold  that  matrimony  is  one  of  the  seven 
sacraments  governed  by  canon  law  under  the  authority 
of  a  visible  head  of  the  church,  there  could  be  no  mar- 
riage except  by  dispensation  of  His  Holiness  the  Pope. 
But  even  they  will  allow^  that  a  considerable  number 
of  questionable  alliances  have  obtained  official  sanc- 
tion after  this  fashion.  British  authority  had  long 
since  repudiated  the  canon  law  as  interpreted  by  the 
Eoman  ecclesiastics,  but  had  provided  its  own  loop- 
hole, nevertheless.  By  this  process  very  wealthy 
persons  might  find  relief  after  long  delay  and  at 
enormous  cost.  The  man  who  wished  to  be  released 
from  an  adulterous  wife  had  first  to  establish  a  case 
of  criminal  conversation  in  the  Court  of  Queen's 
Bench,  he  must  then  proceed  to  the  Court  of  Arches 
to  get  his  former  marriage  annulled,  and  finally  he 
must  go  to  the  two  Houses  of  Parliament  to  procure, 
a  special  Act  to  enable  him  to  marry  again.  By  this 
time  he  would  be  a  poorer  man  to  the  tune  of  several 
thousands  of  pounds.  Neither  the  one  nor  the  other 
of  these  methods  of  relief  was  open  to  Mr.  Lewes 
and,  indeed,  the  first  could  not  have  been  available 
without  the  last.  In  any  case  he  could  not  have 
found    the    money,    and    she    was    dependent    on    an 


274      THE   TRUE    STORY   OF    GEORGE    ELIOT 

annual  income  which  did  not  more  than  suffice  for  her' 
wants.  One  can  easily  imagine  how  the  matter  would 
be  viewed  by  the  wilful  pair.  A  criticism  by  George 
Eliot,  before  she  knew  her  future  husband,  affords 
some  intimation  that  even  at  this  early  date  her  views 
on  marriage  were  not  altogether  of  the  conventional 
order.  She  was  writing  her  opinion  of  Jane  Eyre 
in  relation  to  Rochester  and  said  :  \ 

''  All  self-sacrifice  is  good,  but  one  would  like  it  to  be  in  a 
somewhat  nobler  cause  than  that  of  a  diabolical  law  which 
chains  a  man  soul  and  body  to  a  putrefying  carcass." 

I  am  sure  that  both  parties  would  agree  that  the 
law  which  still  bound  Lewes  to  his  recreant  wife  and 
made  divorce  a  luxury  for  very  rich  persons,  was  a 
law  to  be  disobeyed.  Be  it  remembered  that  at  this 
time  there  was  no  Divorce  Court  in  existence.  Few 
persons  were  better  acquainted  with  the  New  Testa- 
ment than  George  Eliot.  Hence,  she  w^ould  know 
that  in  the  teaching  of  Christ  as  to  the  indissolubility 
of  the  marriage  tie  an  exception  is  made  in  the  case 
of  "fornication."  Most  likely  she  would  also  know 
that  so  great  an  authority  as  John  Milton,  relying  on 
his  own  independent  research  as  well  as  upon  the 
opinion  of  some  of  the  most  learned  legal 
jurists  and  Christian  fathers,  regarded  the 
word  employed  by  our  Lord  as  being  of 
wider  signification  than  is  generally  under- 
stood, including  in  its  scope  much  more  than  sexual 
unfaithfulness.  The  ethics  of  Christ  then  most  cer- 
tainly did  not  disallow  divorce  in  cases  where  there 
was  fornication.  In  his  recent  discourses  on  the 
Sermon  on  the  Mount  the  Lord  Bishop  of  Birmingham , 
^Dr.  Gore),  admits  that  this  is  the  teaching  of  Jesus, 


MARRIAGE    WITH   GEORGE   H.    LEWES       275 

and  even  pleads  for  an  alteration  of  the  laws  of  the 
established  church  to  bring  them  into  harmony  with 
that  teaching.  In  the  case  before  lis  fornication  was 
known  and  avowed.  It  was  flagrant  in  the  extreme. 
And  yet,  such  was  the  state  of  the  law  as  to  tie  the 
husband  to  the  unfaithful  wiie  as  long  as  life  should 
last.  Such  law  was  oppressive,  irrational  and  unjust. 
I  am  not  arguing  in  favour  of  the  course  which  was 
taken  by  this  doting  pair  of  human  lovers.  My  point 
is  that  the  precise  circumstances  should  be  stated. 
Then  let  the  several  schools  of  thought  form  their 
own  judgment  on  the  facts  as  they  occurred.  We 
have  reached  the  point  at  which  the  lovers  determined 
to  blend  their  lives  in  wedded  union.  A  lawful 
marriage  is  to  them  impossible,  and  with  the  full 
knowledge  of  the  position  they  were  about  to  assume 
they  boldly  faced  the  consequences  and  sent  round 
intimations  to  their  friends  to  the  effect  that  they 
must  henceforth  be  known  as  husband  and  wife.  This 
was  a  painful  sorrow  to  all  her  relations  and  a  great 
consternation  to  her  literary  and  social  friends.  There 
was  speedily  a  journey  to  the  Continent  of  Europe, 
and  whether  a  form  of  marriage  was  gone  through 
there  as  I  have  heard  asserted  by  one  very  near  to 
George  Eliot  and  much  beloved  by  her,  or  not,  the 
union  was  in  this  country  entirely  wanting  in  legal 
sanction. 

I  know  that  one  of  George  Eliot's  biographers  de- 
clares in  plain  terms  that  no  such  marriage  ceremony 
took  place.  lam  not  prepared  with  evidence  to  refute 
his  testimony,  but  will,  nevertheless,  relate  what 
happened  to  me  in  November,  1904.  I  was  driven  to 
a  charming  home  in  Cornwall  where  there  was  made 
to  me  a  communication  of  more  than  ordinary  interest 


276      THE   TEUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT 

and  one  that  I  least  expected.  The  presence  of  a 
numerous  supply  of  choice  books  indicated  literary 
tastes,  and  my  intercourse  with  the  lady  of  the  house 
revealed  on  her  part  fine  conversational  powers  and 
high  mental  culture.  She  informed  me  that  she  was 
cousin  to  Mrs.  Cash,  of  Coventry,  the  friend  and  pupil 
of  George  Eliot ;  that  she  had  often  conversed  with  her 
cousin  about  George  Eliot ;  and  especially  concerning 
the  marriage  with  George  H.  Lewes ;  that  she  had 
repeatedly  heard  Mrs.  Cash  declare  that  George  Eliot 
had  told  her  more  than  once  that  the  legality  of  her 
marriage  with  Mr.  Lewes  was  purely  a  matter  of  geo- 
graphy, that  while  it  was  illegal  in  England  it  was 
legal  in  Germany  w^here  a  marriage  ceremony  had 
actually  been  performed.  Even  if  such  a  ceremony 
did  take  place  abroad  it  was  utterly  wanting  in  the 
sanction  of  law  at  home. 

For  many  grave  reasons  such  a  marriage  at  its 
best  must  be  ever  most  undesirable.  Doubtless, 
irregular  unions  of  this  sort  are  more  or  less  perilous 
to  society.  To  take  up  such  a  position  must  entail 
unhappy  consequences.  Eor  a  great  teacher  and  pro- 
found genius  like  George  Eliot  to  have  done  this  was, 
to  say  the  least,  unfortunate.  One  can  never  cease 
to  deplore  it  both  for  her  own  sake  and  in  the  interests 
of  society  at  large.  A  considerable  share  of  the 
blame,  however,  must  attach  to  the  defective  state  of 
the  laws.  There  is  not  a  line  to  be  quoted  from 
either  of  the  parties  to  show  that  the  conscience  of 
either  of  them  was  for  one  moment  uneasy  with  re- 
gard to  their  union.  On  the  contrary,  there  is  ample 
proof  that  she  always  considered  it  one  of  the  chief 
blessings  that  had  been  given  to  her.  The  dedications 
to  her  several  books,  so  expressive  and  sincere,  are 


GEORGE    ELIOT. 

From  Sir    Frederick   W.   Burton's   Drawing   (1865)    in   the   National    Portrait    Gallerv 
Reproduced  by  kind  permission  of  Henry  B.  Burton,  Esq. 


MARRIAGE   WITH   GEORGE   H.    LEWES       279 

unquestionably  proof  of  that.  After  Mr.  Lewes'  de- 
cease the  writer  received  from  George  Ehot  a  touching 
and  plaintive  letter  showing  how  deeply  she  felt  her 
bereavement.  It  was  the  great  surging  sorrow  of 
her  life.  As  for  Lewes,  it  w^as  impossible  to  be  in 
his  company  without  perceiving  his  adoring  affection 
and  honest  pride  in  the  rare  woman  who  had  conferred 
on  him  and  his  sons  the  great  blessedness  of  being  a 
true  wife  to  him  and  gentle  mother  to  them.  Her 
chief  biographer  tells  us  that  this  irregular  union  of 
hers  must  be  judged  by  its  results.  Following  this 
rule  we  may  fearlessly  assert  that  to  all  the  parties 
concerned  the  issues  were  exceptionally  happy.  The 
husband  found  a  true  help-meet  in  his  w^ife,  while  she 
ever  considered  his  tender  and  watchful  love  one  of 
her  chiefest  blessings ;  the  sons  obtained  an  affection- 
ate, solicitous  and  helpful  mother,  who  made  their 
domestic  happiness  and  their  promotion  in  life  one 
of  her  chief  concerns.  1  have  read  most  enthusiastic 
expressions  of  their  gratitude. 

One  of  these  was  given  in  the  "  Times  "  not  very 
long  ago.  A  lady  friend  of  the  late  Mr.  Charles  Lewes, 
the  eldest  son  of  Mr.  G.  H.  Lewes,  reports  a  conversa- 
tion she  had  with  Mr.  Charles  Lewes  only  a  very  little 
while  prior  to  his  lamented  decease  in  Egypt.  She 
made  bold  to  ask  whether  it  was  true  that  G.  H.  Lewes 
left  his  family  owing  to  the  influence  of  George  Eliot? 
"It  is  a  wicked  falsehood  "  was  his  answer.  '*  My 
mother  had  left  my  father  before  he  and  George  Eliot 
had  ever  met  each  other.  George  Eliot  found  a  ruined 
hfe  and  she  made  it  into  a  beautiful  life.  She  found 
us  poor  little  motherless  boys,  and  what  she  did  for  us 
no  one  on  earth  will  ever  know.  I  am  the  son  of  the 
woman  whom  people  say  w^as  wronged  by  George  Eliot. 


280      THE   TRUE    STORY   OF    GEORGE    ELIOT 

I  have  told  you  the  real  truth  of  the  matter  and  you 
have  my  authority  to  repeat  it  wherever  and  whenever 
such  a  statement  is  made  in  your  presence." 

With  regard  to  Mr.  G.  H.  Lewies  it  must  be  con- 
ceded that  he  fulfilled  to  perfection  the  duties  of  a 
fond  and  faithful  husband.  It  was  given  to  the  de- 
voted pair  to  dwell  together  in  the  gentle  amenities 
of  a  mutually  helpful  union  for  nearly  a  quarter  of  a 
century.  Nothing  occurred  to  mar  the  happiness 
they  enjoyed  in  each  other's  society  till  death  rent 
them  in  twain.  There  can  be  no  doubt  that  George 
H.  Lewes  w^as  the  very  person  to  nurture  and  en- 
courage the  literary  genius  of  George  Eliot.  It  was 
he  w^ho  most  thoroughly  appreciated  her  miscellane- 
ous writings  and  divined  the  secret,  undiscovered  by 
herself,  that  she  possessed  a  capacity  for  the  highest 
fiction.  George  Henry  Lewes  discovered  George 
Eliot.  It  was  his  admiring  and  imperative  saying 
' '  You  must  try  and  WTite  a  story  ' '  that  started  her 
on  her  great  career  in  the  world  of  letters.  He  was 
himself  a  keen  and  facile  critic.  He  had  for  her 
literary  talent  the  most  exalted  admiration,  and  she 
reposed  in  his  judgment  the  serenest  confidence.  She 
was  diffident,  and  often  despaired  of  her  own  powers 
to  accomplish  anything.  She  needed  someone  who 
could  appreciate  her  great  gifts,  and  on  whom  slje  could 
implicitly  lean.  Years  earlier  she  had  written  of  her 
"  ivy-like  instincts."  Hence  the  world  is  very  much 
indebted  to  G.  H.  Lewes  for  the  long  series  of  books 
which  bear  the  name  of  George  Eliot.  It  was  he 
who  set  her  forward  in  the  track  in  which  she  won 
such  brilliant  fame,  and  as  far  as  we  are  able  to  judge 
it  appears  to  be  probable  that  but  for  the  encourage- 
ment  which   he   so   lovingly   contributed,   her   great 


Mx\RRIAGE    WITH    GEORGE  H.    LEWES       281 

career  would  have  been  impossible  to  her.  On  the 
other  hand,  the  effect  of  his  union  with  George  Eliot 
has  been  spoken  of  as  the  redemption  of  George  H. 
Lewes.  There  is  truth  in  that  statement.  Irregu- 
lar as  the  union  confessedly  was,  and  therefore  in  an 
important  sense  to  be  deplored,  yet  considering  its 
results  it  is  not  too  much  to  say  : 

"  'Twas  so  decreed,  'twas  part  of  Nature's  plan. 
And  all  in  vain  we  strive  her  works  to  scan  ; 
Each  soul  had  found  its  true  affinity. 

She  was  his  woman  named,  he  pre-ordained  her  man." 

George  Eliot's  ideal,  as  expressed  in  her  own  choice 
words,  was  realised  for  a  quarter  of  a  century,  in  her 
marriage  union  with  Geo.  H.  Lewes  : 

''What  greater  thing  is  there  for  two  human  souls  than  to 
feel  that  they  are  joined  for  life  to  strengthen  each  other  in 
all  labour,  to  rest  on  each  other  in  all  sorrow,  to  minis- 
ter to  each  other  in  all  pain,  to  be  one  with  each  other  in 
silent  unspeakable  memories  at  the  moment  of  the  last 
parting." 

Even  so  was  it  in  the  marriage  in  question. 

But  I  pause.  My  role  is  not  that  of  the  advocate, 
but  that  of  an  honest  narrator  of  facts.  Professor 
Newman's  earnest  voice  still  sounds  in  my  ears.  I 
feel  the  force  of  his  judgment  that  the  plain  facts 
should  be  narrated.  I  have  hoped  that  others  would 
discharge  this  duty,  and  so  fulfil  the  purpose  my  social 
leader  and  friend.  Professor  Newman,  deemed  to  be 
so  necessary.  For  me  the  shadows  of  the  day  are 
swiftly  lengthening,  and  1  feel  a  marked  satisfaction 
in  putting  upon  record  this  statement  of  a  most  im- 
portant history.  I  fondly  hope  that  it  may  place  in 
a  clearer  light  facts  which  have  produced  a  most  pain- 


282      THE    TRUE  STORY    OF    GEORGE    ELIOT 

ful  impression  on  many  serious  minds  and  that  it  will 
be  a  relief  to  thousands  of  the  sincere  admirers  of  a 
great  writer.  It  is  a  service  I  am  thankful  to  have 
done  before  the  day  has  sunk  too  low. 


CHAPTEK    XVI 

THE  RELIGION  OF  GEORGE  ELIOT 

"  I  have  a  life  with  Christ  to  live, 

But  ere  I  live  it,  must  I  wait 
Till  learning  can  clear  answer  give 

Of  this  and  that  book's  date? 
I  have  a  life  in  Christ  to  live, 

I  have  a  death  in  Christ  to  die ; 
But  must  1  wait  till  science  give 

All  doubts  a  full  reply? 
No,  rather  while  the  sea  of  doubt 
Is  raging  wildly  round  about. 
Questioning   of   life   and   death   and   sin, 
Let  me  but  creep  within 
Thy  fold,  O  Christ,  and  at  Thy  feet. 
Take  but  the  lowest  seat, 
And  hear  Thy  awful  voice  repeat, 
In  gentlest  accents,  heavenly  sweet, 

'  Come  unto  Me  and  rest ; 
Believe  Me,   and  be  blest.'  " 

Professor  Sharp. 

Our  Scotch  divine  has  here  expressed  for  us  the 
true  attitude  of  faith  in  relation  to  the  dark  question- 
ings and  the  searching  criticisms  of  modern  unbelief. 
The  poem  is  too  lengthy  for  a  motto,  but  it  har- 
monises so  completely  with  my  own  inner  feeling  that 
I  cannot  resist  the  temptation  of  placing  it  at  the  head 
of  the  present  chapter.  For  myself,  I  rest  in  the 
clear  vision  of  a  satisfied,  adoring  faith.  There  was 
a  period  when  I  tumbled  for  a  while  in  a  sea  of  doubt. 

283 


284     THE    TRUE   STORY    OF    GEORGE    ELIOT 

That,  however,  is  long  ago.  I  have  now  a  realm  of 
inner  consciousness,  all  my  ow^n,  in  which  certainty 
abides  with  me,  and  voices  from  unseen  spheres  are 
melodious  in  my  ears.  I  introduce  this  confession  of 
restful,  hallowing  faith  because  I  have  much  to  say  of 
doubt  and  unbelief,  in  this  chapter,  and  w^ould  first 
make  my  own  position  clear.  It  is  that  of  a 
single-minded  believer  w^hose  soul  is  filled  with 
rapturous  joy,  and  whose  w^hole  life  is  musical  with 
praise.  All  the  more  do  I  sympathise  with  such  as 
have  never  known,  or  any  who  have  unfortunately 
lost,  the  firm  anchorage  of  a  steadfast  faith.  Un- 
fortunately, did  I  say?  I  deem  it  unfortunate,  indeed, 
to  be  bereft  of  the  adoring  heaven  of  faith.  To  me, 
a  life  without  faith  appears  to  be  a  life  maimed  and 
incomplete.  I  cannot  but  lament  its  absence  in 
any  human  creature  as  a  deprivation  and  a  mis- 
fortune. I  cannot  but  deplore  much  that  happened 
in  the  religious  history  of  George  Eliot.  My  first 
intelligence  of  her  was  with  regard  to  her  religious 
rebellion  against  the  creed  of  her  beloved  father. 

Eesiding  in  Staffordshire,  back  in  the  forties,  War- 
wickshire was,  to  us,  a  region  far  away.  There 
we  knew  that  our  relative ,  the  original  of  Adam 
Bede,  resided  in  prosperity  and  comfort.  We  knew 
that  he  was  a  person  valued  for  his  worth  and  highly 
esteemed  by  a  circle  of  aristocratic  landowners,  who 
profited  by  his  services.  Occasionally  we  saw  him  in 
Staffordshire,  for  there  were  funerals  of  our  mutual 
relatives  at  Ellastone  and  Waterhouses,  and  there 
were  other  occasions  when  he  came  as  a  visiter 
to  the  scenes  of  his  early  life.  We  knew 
that  he  was  now  residing  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
Coventry  in  semi-retirement,  and  that  his  youngest 


THE   KELIGION   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT         285 

daughter  (George  Eliot)  was  keeping  house  for  him 
there.      All  at  once  we  were  shocked  to  learn  that  the 
daughter  had  turned  rebel  to  her  father's  religion,  and 
we  deemed  this  a  daring  and  revolting  deed.       We 
regarded  him  as  an  exceptional  man.       To  us  he  was 
a  model  of  uprightness,  devoutness,  capacity  and  suc- 
cess.       "  My   brother   Eobert  "    was   a   phrase   pro- 
nounced by  my  grandmother  w4th  the  largest  satisfac- 
tion and  with  fond  sisterly  pride.     "  Uncle  Eobert  " 
was  a  title  of  honour  with  my  own  dear  mother,  who 
was  named  after  his  eldest  daughter.     And  to  learn  that 
his  youngest  daughter,  Mary  Ann,  not  j^et  known  as 
George   Eliot,   had   renounced   her   father's   rehgion, 
had  refused  any  longer  to  accompany  him  to  church, 
and   was   altogether   in   a   state   of   mental   rebellion 
against  his  faith,  did  not  exalt  that  young  lady  in  our 
esteem.       We  could  do  no  other  than  think  of  her  as 
an  undutiful  child,  who,  in  her  religious  revolt,  had 
shown  both  folly  and  ingratitude.       "  Infidel  "  was  a 
name  of  blackest  omen  to  us  up  there,  and  the  term 
"  Unitarian,"  which  I  then  for  the  first  time  heard, 
was  only  one  shade  less  objectionable.     My  mother's 
horror  of  infidel  books  I  can  never  forget.    To  us  it  was 
unaccountable,   on   any   rational   considerations,   that 
the  daughter  of  Adam  Bede  should  have  assumed  the 
character  of  an  unbeliever,  and  should  have  quarrelled 
with   and   separated   from   so   good   a   father   on   the 
grounds  of  religious  faith.       We  knew  that  the  dis- 
pute had  been  outwardly  healed,  that  she  had  resumed 
her  attendances   at   church   out   of   deference   to   her 
father's  desire,  but  we  could  do  no  other  than  think  of 
the  future  George  Eliot  as  a  person  whose  declension 
from  right  w^ays  was  to  be  mourned  over,  and  whose 
delinquency  was  of  an  aggravated  kind.    This  would  be 


286      THE   TRUE  STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

about  sixty  years  ago.  Of  course,  in  our  insular  narrow- 
ness, our  views  as  to  the  heinous  conduct  of  our  relative 
were  grossly  exaggerated,  but  not  more  incorrect  than 
some  opinions  about  her  which  are  current  to-day.  In 
the  Strand  Magazine  for  1903,  there  is  an  article  en- 
titled :  "Three-score  Years  and  Ten."  It  purports  to  be 
a  conversation  between  an  aged  member  of  an  old  Eng- 
lish family  and  his  grandson,  the  heir  to  his  title  and 
estates.  The  old  gentleman  is  instructing  his  suc- 
cessor on  the  state  of  things  in  England  when  he  was 
a  young  man. 

"  Not  that  the  peerage  is  immaculate  to-day.  Only  that  the 
nobility  flaunted  their  vice,  whereas  now  they  discreetly  con- 
ceal it  among  their  own  set." 

"What  has  caused  the  difference,  grandfather?" 

"  Women,  my  boy.  The  women  of  my  young  days  were 
sweet,  good  and  alluring.  But  they  were  not  well  educated. 
They  could  be  protected  and  pampered,  or  be  ill-treated  and 
neglected.  But  they  were  never  on  an  equal  footing  with 
men.  Much  of  the  emancipation  was  due  to  the  Queen,  a 
good  deal  to  George  Eliot,  who  wrote  in  reprobation  of  what 
she  had  herself  done — a  thing  you  will  hear  of  later  in  life.'''' 

The  words  I  have  placed  in  itahcs  represent 
opinions  of  George  Eliot  which  largely  prevail.  These 
criticisms  are  not  altogether  of  a  recent  date.  Id 
the  Gentleman's  Magazine  for  April,  1887,  Mr.  Fer- 
rars  Fenton  writes  of  George  Eliot  as  a  "  backslider  ' 
who  was  a  source  of  pain  and  shame  to  her  family 
"It  struck  me,"  says  this  writer,  "that  she  wrote 
out  of  the  anguish  of  her  secret  heart,  at  the  impossi- 
bility of  ever  undoing  the  wrong  to  her  mind,  soul  and 
honour,  her  self-will  and  strong  passions  had  plunged 
her  into.  She  seems  to  have  been  always  looking,' 
back  on  the  pure  life  of  the  village  with  a  longing  re- 


TOMB  OF  GEORGE  ELIOT's  BROTHER,  ISAAC  EVANS,  CHII.VERS  COTOX 

CHIRCHYARD 

(Tom  Tulliver  of  The  Mill  on  the  Floss.) 


THE   RELIGION   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT  289 

morse  and  despair  such  as  Eve  might  have  looked  back 
with  to  the  Eden  she  had  quitted,  and  to  which  she 
knew  there  was  no  return." 

In  hke  manner,  the  first  article  in  T.P.'s  Weekly 
was  a  slashing  and  sensational  leader  by  T.P.  himself, 
in  which  he  boldl}^  asserted  that  George  Eliot's  w^orks 
are  to  be  accepted  from  her  as  a  penance  and  atone- 
ment for  her  breach  of  morality  and  law.  In  the 
Strand  she  is  said  to  have  written  in  reproba- 
tion of  what  she  herself  had  done.  This  is  a  charge  of 
grave  inconsistency  if  not  of  downright  hypocrisy. 
I  have  no  hesitation  in  saying  that  all  such  conclu- 
sions are  as  wide  as  possible  from  the  mark.  There 
is  nothing,  I  am  sure,  that  George  Eliot  would  more 
earnestly  have  deprecated  than  that  suspicions  like 
these  should  attach  to  her  name,  or  that  deductions  so 
compromising  should  be  drawn  from  her  writings, 
both  alike  injurious  to  the  cause  of  morality  and  re- 
ligion. All  through  life  she  was  a  reverent  and 
deeply  religious  soul,  in  spite  of  her  agnosticism.  To 
charge  her  with  conscious  and  wilful  immorality  is  an 
outrage.  To  profess  to  do  her  honour  by  insinuating 
that  her  conduct  and  her  teachings  were  at  variance  is 
to  degrade  her  memory.  Np  more  conscientious 
woman  ever  lived.  In  the  preceding  chapter  I  have  set 
down  the  facts  as  to  her  marriage  relation  with  George 
H.  Lewes.  It  is  on  this  union  that  the  unfavourable 
judgments  passed  upon  her  are  wholly  based.  With 
the  knowledge  of  this  in  his  mind,  a  learned 
canon  of  the  Established  Church  denounced  George 
Eliot,  in  my  hearing,  as  an  immoral  and  aban- 
doned woman.  And  yet,  in  reality,  there  was 
no  act  of  George  Eliot's  life  which  she  re- 
garded  as   more  truly   moral  and  upright  than   this 

20  ♦ 


290      THE   TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT 

union.  In  it  she  accepted  the  responsibilities  of  a 
true  wife  and  a  vicarious  mother,  and  all  the  parties 
concerned  most  gratefully  testified  that  she  fulfilled 
such  duties  to  perfection.  .The  husband's  pride  in 
her  and  devotion  to  her  were  beautiful  to  behold.  His 
son,  after  her  decease,  defended  her  against  every 
aspersion,  and  blessed  her  memory.  It  is  quite  time 
that  the  severe  moral  judgments  I  have  complained  of 
should  be  revised.  Surely  the  day  is  coming  when 
such  harsh  condemnations  and  groundless  speculations 
and  guesses  should  for  ever  cease.  In  every  respect 
they  are  unwarrantable,  and  therefore  injurious.  In 
relation  to  her  first  marriage  union,  whether  it  were 
right  or  wrong  in  the  judgment  of  others,  the  con- 
science of  George  Eliot  held  both  herself  and  her  hus- 
band entirely  blameless. 

In  outlining  the  religious  life  of  this  great  woman, 
it  is  important  to  dwell  upon  the  spiritual  influences  of 
her  childhood.  Naturally  one  looks  first  at  her  home 
and  family.  The  father  was  a  devout  churchman,  and 
w^e  learn  that  he  was  one  of  those  thorough-going  Con- 
formists who  accepted  the  Church  as  the  true  and  pro- 
per expression  of  the  nation's  religious  life.  He  saw 
no  need  for  questionings  or  doubts.  His  brother  Seth 
Bede  tells  us  in  his  memoirs  that  Adam  was,  even 
in  early  years,  a  high  churchman.  Of  course,  this 
designation  had  altogether  a  different  meaning  prior 
to  the  Tractarian  movement.  In  this  case  it  meant 
no  more  than  such  an  attachment  to  the  Established 
Church  as  shut  out  any  kind  of  leanings  to  any  other 
communion,  accepted  the  church  system  as  authorita- 
tive and  divine.  His  daughter  tells  us  that  Adam 
Bede,  her  father,  thought  but  little  of  such  persons  as 
did  not  agree  with  him  in  this  respect.       Here  you 


I 


,X3R-AJ^ 


THE  ^^ 

UKllVERSITY    m 


THE   REMGION   OF   GEORGE  ELIOT         293 

have  the  picture  of  a  good  man  with  a  rigid  ecclesias- 
tical system,  and  a  set  of  ideas  wholly  lacking  in  elas- 
ticity and  breadth.  If  anyone  will  consider  the 
revelations  in  **  The  Mill  on  the  Floss  "  concerning 
the  Dodson  family,  he  will  see  how  the  religious  feel- 
ings on  the  mother's  side  harmonised  with  those  of 
the  father. 

"  The  religion  of  the  Dodsons  consisted  in  revering  whatever 
was  customary  and  respectable;  it  was  necessary  to  be  bap- 
tised, else  one  could  not  be  buried  in  the  churchyard,  and  to 
take  the  sacrament  before  death  as  a  security  against  more 
dimly  understood  perils ;  but  it  was  of  actual  necessity  to  have 
the  proper  pall-bearers  and  well-cured  hams  at  one's  funeral, 
and  to  leave  an  unimpeachable  will." 

There  can  be  no  doubt  that,  by  the  Dodson 's, 
George  Eliot  intended  her  mother's  family.  It  may 
be  an  insoluble  mystery  why  such  a  mind  as  that  of 
George  Eliot  should  issue  from  such  a  parent  stock, 
but  being  there,  one  might  conclude  that  it  would  not 
for  long  be  bound  within  the  cramped  confines  of  the 
religious  life  of  the  home.  .Schools  had  also  a  very 
potent  religious  influence  on  the  mind  of  George  Eliot. 
In  the  one  she  attended  at  Nuneaton,  one  of  the 
teachers,  Miss  Lewis,  was  a  very  devout  Christian 
woman  to  whom  her  pupil  became  deeply  attached. 
She  was  an  evangelical  church  woman.  The  teaching 
at  the  parish  church  was  also  evangelical,  with  a  de- 
cided Calvinistic  tendency.  At  this  early  age  there 
came  a  definite  religious  experience  and  a  full  accept- 
ance of  the  Calvinistic  system.  The  change  to  the 
Misses  Franklin's  school  at  Coventry  only  accentuated 
these  influences.  Here  she  became  a  leader  in  ex- 
ercises of  religion  among  the  girls.  Influenced  by  re- 
ligious ideas  she  became  a  parish  worker  on  leaving 


294      THE    TRUE    STORY   OF    GEORGE    ELIOT 

school,  and  was  in  every  way  a  model  of  Christian  life 
and  activity  up  to  the  time  of  becoming  a  resident  in 
Coventry  in  1841,  when  she  had  attained  the  age  of 
twenty-one  years.  Her  life  was  lived  apart.  This 
she  strongly  felt  at  this  time,  and  expressed  herself 
thus  : 

"  I  have  no  one  who  enters  into  my  pleasures,  or  my  griefs: 
no  one  with  whom  I  can  pour  out  my  soul ;  no  one  with  the 
same  yearnings,  the  same  temptations,  the  same  delights  as 
myself." 

How  her  mind  evolved  the  social  question  on  its 
religious  side  we  may  see  by  another  extract  : 

"  The  prevalence  of  misery  and  want  in  this  boasted  nation 
of  prosperity  and  glory  is  appalling,  and  really  seems  to  call  us 
away  from  mental  luxury.  O,  to  be  doing  some  little  towards 
the  regeneration  of  this  groaning,  travailing  creation  !  I  am 
supine  and  stupid — overfed  with  favors — while  the  haggard 
looks  and  piercing  glance  of  want  and  conscious  hopelessness 
are  to  be  seen  in  the  streets." 

One  other  extract  will  show^  the  depth  and  intensity 
of  George  Eliot's  spiritual  life  at  this  time.  It  w^as 
written  concerning  her  engagement  in  household 
duties,  just  prior  to  the  break-up  of  the  dear  old  home 
at  Griff  : 

*'  I  have  had  much  of  this  kind  of  occupation  lately,  and  I 
grieve  to  say  I  have  not  gone  through  it  so  cheerfully  as  the 
character  of  a  Christian,  who  professes  to  do  all,  even  the 
most  trifling,  duty,  as  the  Lord  demands." 

The  Christian  ideal  here  is  very  high,  the  introspec- 
tion and  consequent  self -judgment  are  searching  and 
severe.  Two  things  stand  out  at  this  period.  A  low 
state  of  physical  health  recalling  the  chills  of  the 
Attleborough   boarding-school,   and   a   constant   com- 


THE   RELIGION   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT         295 

plaint  of  her  low  attainments  in  the  Christian  calling. 
In  these  quotations  we  may  see  the  ground  prepared 
and  ready  for  that  kind  of  development  w^hich  came 
with  such  amazing  rapidity  after  the  removal  to 
Coventry?  Miss  Sibree,  a  daughter  of  the  late  Eev. 
John  Sibree,  a  well-known  Congregational  minister 
at  Coventry,  a  pupil,  and  one  of  her  correspondents, 
gives  another  glance  at  the  inner  life  of  George  Eliot 
at  this  time.  This  shows  that  her  view^  of  the  claims 
of  evangelical  piety  compelling  her,  she  at  one  time 
sacrificed  the  cultivation  of  her  intellect  and  even  re- 
linquished a  proper  regard  to  personal  appearance. 
"  I  used  to  go  about  like  an  owl,  to  the  great  disgust 
of  my  brother,  and  I  would  have  denied  him  what  I 
now  see  to  have  been  quite  lawful  amusements."  Do 
we  not  see  here  a  young  soul  strung  up  to  too  high  a 
pitch?  She  had  her  sincere  speculations  too.  She 
was  earnestly  bent  '*  to  shape  this  anomalous  English 
Christian  life  of  ours  into  some  consistency  with  the 
spirit  and  simple  verbal  tenor  of  the  New  Testament." 
The  piety  of  George  Eliot  up  to  1842  was  deeply 
genuine,  without  a  doubt  it  was  intensely  practical 
and  all  engrossing,  but  it  may  be  questioned  whether 
it  w^as  natural  and  healthy.  Very  rapidly  the  change 
came.  Being  introduced  into  friendship  with  a  very 
intellectual  circle  in  Coventry,  whose  freedom  in  re- 
ligious thought  was  linked  to  great  personal  attractive- 
ness and  moral  goodness,  she  began  to  read  and  study 
a  book  wTitten  by  one  of  the  circle  entitled  :  "  An 
enquiry  concerning  the  origin  of  Christianity."  In 
this  book  the  author  entirely  rejects  the  supernatural 
and  miraculous  origin  of  the  religion  of  Christ,  and 
accounts  for  it  on  other  grounds.  The  book  brought 
with  it  an  instantaneous  revolution.       From  the  de- 


296        THE   TRUE    STORY  OF   GEORGE    ELIOT 

vout  believer,  George  Eliot  at  one  great  bound  swung 
round  to  the  position  of  an  agnostic.  But  it  was 
against  Calvinistic  dogma  that  she  revolted.  She 
said  : 

"  Calvinism  is  Christianity,  and  that  granted,  it  is  a  religion 
of  pure  selfishness." 

There  are  few  Christian  teachers  to-day  w^ho  would 
allow  that  "  Calvinism  is  Christianity."  Even  if  it 
were  so,  however,  the  history  of  religion  in  Europe 
the  last  three  hundred  years  w^ould  show  that  the 
Calvinian  creed  has  done  great  things  and  has  pro- 
duced much  that  does  not  square  with  '*  pure  selfish- 
ness." But  the  die  was  cast,  and  George  Eliot  never 
regained  her  faith.  In  the  change,  however,  from 
Calvinism  and  evangelicalism  to  doubt  she  was  per- 
fectly honest  and  sincere.  Nor  when  she  had  ceased 
to  hold  the  Christian  faith  did  she  cease  to  be  religious. 
Is  there  no  such  thing  as  a  practical  adherence  to  the 
spiritual  life  apart  from  intellectual  dogmas?  Is 
there  no  going  forth  of  the  light  which  lighteth  every 
one  that  cometh  into  the  world  beyond  the  circle  of 
the  professed  adherents  of  the  church  of  the  Saviour? 
Very  few  enlightened  believers  in  these  days  would 
answer  these  questions  in  the  negative.  Even  in 
the  bosom  of  the  Church  of  Christ  itself  there  has  been 
a  silent  revolution.  The  old  Calvinism  is  all  but 
gone.  In  the  case  of  the  fine  old  Independent  minis- 
ter portrayed  in  Felix  Holt,  it  was  already  relaxing  its 
grip.  The  Eev.  Kufus  Lyon,  we  are  told,  theological 
as  he  was,  and  given  to  "  sectarian  phraseology,"  and, 
moreover,  an  "  old-fashioned  Puritan,"  had  neverthe- 
less felt  the  broadening  process.       He  says  : 


THE    RELIGION   OF   GEORGE    ELIOT  297 

"  I  would  not  wantonly  grasp  at  ease  of  mind  through  an 
arbitrary  choice  of  doctrine,  yet,  I  cannot  but  believe  that 
the  merits  of  the  Divine  Sacrifice  are  wider  than  our  utmost 
charity.     I  once  believed  otherwise — but  not  now,  not  now." 

The  congregation  in  the  chapel  yard  at  Treby 
Magna  had  given  signs  of  some  uneasiness  on  account 
of  this  broadening  of  the  minister's  doctrinal  views,  a 
fact  which  indicates  a  tolerably  wide  movement  that 
has  travelled  far  since  the  days  of  Rufus  Lyon.  How 
well  I  remember  a  recital  to  me  by  a  popular  Baptist 
minister  some  forty-five  years  ago.  He  was  a  prolific 
author  as  well  as  a  powerful  preacher.  He  told  us 
how  that  he  had  been  the  minister,  in  his  earliest 
pastorate,  of  a  strict  communion  Baptist  church, 
that  he  had  even  believed  in  the  reprobation  of  little 
children,  and  had  preached  that  horrible  doctrine  from 
the  pulpit  as  a  part  of  the  divine  revelation.  Then, 
his  own  little  boy  of  eight  years  of  age  lay  dead  before 
his  eyes.  Now  the  love  of  the  father's  heart  came 
into  conflict  with  the  rigorous  logic  of  the  preacher's 
inhuman  creed.  When  he  came  to  contemplate  the 
possibility  of  the  eternal  reprobation  of  his  ow^n  dead 
child,  his  whole  nature  rebelled  against  such  doctrine 
and  he  was  comforted.  Naturally,  his  preaching  was 
modified,  and  his  congregation  took  alarm,  as  did  that 
of  Rufus  Lyon.  This  led  to  a  separation,  to  services 
for  awhile  in  the  town  hall,  then  to  the  erection  of 
the  largest  Nonconformist  church  in  the  district, 
which  is,  to  this  day,  a  centre  of  vigorous  life  and 
energy. 

I  cannot  but  think  that  warped  and  narrow 
ecclesiastical  and  doctrinal  views,  which  are  in  them- 
selves no  necessary  part  of  the  Christian  system,  have 
far  too  often  been  an  occasion  of  stumbling,  and  have 


298      THE   TRUE    STORY   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT 

hastened  the  revolt  to  unbeHef  of  an  order  of  minds 
which  were  naturally  of  a  superior  cast,  and  only 
longed  for  a  larger  intellectual  freedom.  Many  of  us 
remember  both  as  advocate  and  judge,  the  late  silver- 
tongued  Lord  Chief  Justice  Coleridge.  He  tells  us 
that  he  once  confessed  to  the  saintly  John  Keble  that 
he  was  sorely  perplexed  on  the  question  of  Inspiration. 
The  answer  he  received  was  that  "  most  of  the  men 
who  had  difficulties  on  that  subject  were  too  wicked  to 
be  reasoned  with."  I  do  not  think  that  any  dogmatic 
utterance  could  be  farther  from  the  truth  or  more 
unfortunate.  Who  is  there  among  us,  having  known 
any  large  number  of  persons  inclined  to  agnosticism, 
who  has  not  found  with  them  a  lofty  sense  of  honour, 
strict  regard  and  sacred  homage  for  truth,  combined 
w^ith  a  life  upright  and  altruistic?  Perchance  it  may 
be  that  the  shortcomings  of  Christians,  their  palpable 
worldliness  and  inconsistency  have  alienated  many 
upright  minds  from  the  Christian  faith.  At  the  great 
mission  to  the  working  classes  carried  on  some  forty 
years  in  the  Lambeth  Baths,  I  used  to  meet  with 
many  of  the  most  influential  secularists  and  socialists 
of  the  day.  The  oft-repeated  argument  against 
Christianity  was  not  against  the  morality,  the  ethics, 
or  even  the  divine  authority  of  Jesus,  but  against  the 
faulty  morality,  the  low  ideals,  the  w^orldly-minded- 
ness,  the  injustice  and  selfish  rapacity  of  many  pro- 
fessing Christians.  One  had  to  say  that  even  the 
best  of  us  were  but  imperfect  Christians.  Just  as 
some  natives  have  said  to  Englishmen  abroad,  having 
first  read  our  Bible  :  "  You  are  not  according  to  your 
book,"  so,  alas,  with  many  of  us,  striving  to  be  like 
our  Lord,  we  fall  lamentably  short  of  our  ideal.  How 
often  has  this  been  a  cause  of  stumbling.     Statements 


THE   RELIGION   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT         299 

by  Froude  and  Lecky  prove  that  a  too  confident  dog- 
matism makes  sceptics,  as  in  the  case  of  the  Oxford 
movement.  The  leaders  virtually  demanded:  "Be- 
lieve this  or  nothing."  Many  courageous  minds,  we 
are  told,  took  them  instantly  at  their  word,  and  be- 
came unbelievers.  I  think  that  rampant  superstition 
and  lifeless  orthodoxy  are  accountable  for  much  un- 
belief, while  the  modern  tendency  to  materialism  and 
pessimism  operate  in  the  same  direction.  Whatever 
the  causes  might  have  been  which  brought  about  the 
loss  of  faith  in  the  case  of  George  Eliot,  its  bright  and 
holy  joy  was  never  recovered.  Thirty  eight  years 
followed,  years  of  strenuous  literary  labour  and  high 
philosophic  thought,  but  with  no  return  of  faith  in  the 
true  and  proper  sense  of  the  word.  I  cannot  but 
regard  this  as  a  great  calamity  to  herself,  and  to  the 
world  at  large.  But  in  her  darkest  hour  of  unbelief 
I  am  of  opinion  that  George  Eliot  was  much  more 
Christian  than  she  knew,  and  that  the  influence  of  her 
past  Christian  experience  was  never  entirely  lost. 
There  is  a  luminous  passage  on  this  point  in  the 
British  Weekly  of  June  5th,  1902.  The  able  writer 
says  : 

*'  When  George  Eliot  appeared  as  a  novelist,  the  multitudes 
of  her  readers  perceived  at  once  that  she  knew  the  secrets  of 
the  Spiritual  life.  No  one  can  get  up  Christianity  so  as  to 
deceive  a  Christian.  Theology,  of  course,  may  be  got  up.  But 
the  religion  of  the  heart  cannot  be  feigned.     This  is  the  great 

peculiarity  of  George  Eliot's  position The  fact  that  she 

had  passed  through  the  Christian  experience,  and  maintained 
throughout  her  life  a  grave  and  reverent  regard  for  it,  power- 
fully contributed  to  her  popularity  and  her  influence.  ...  So 
far  as  her  writings  go,  she  appears  to  accept  in  full  the  ethics 
of  Christianity.  Perhaps  the  most  important  passage  in  her 
letters  bearing  on  this  point  is  the  following :  '  My  soul 
heartily  responds  to  your  rejoicing  that  society  is  attaining  a 


300      THE    TRUE    STORY   OF    GEORGE    ELIOT 

more  perfect  idea  and  exhibition  of  Paul's  exhortation :  Let 
the  same  mind  be  in  you  which  was  also  in  Christ  Jesus.  I 
l)elieve  the  amen  to  this  will  be  uttered  more  and  more  fer- 
vently among  all  posterities  for  evermore.'  " 

It  is  thus  both  instructive  and  gratifying  to  note  the 
attitude  she  assumed  towards  religion.  It  is  really  a 
most  interesting  study.  In  the  works  of  George  Eliot 
which  remain  as  an  active  and  abiding  force  in  the 
world's  literary  thought,  who  ever  found  a  sentence 
written  in  antagonism  to  religion?  Too  well  she 
knew  what  the  loss  of  faith  entailed.  Her  own  say- 
ings are  her  witness  here.  Mr.  John  Morley,  M.P., 
in  an  article  in  Macmillan's  Magazine,  says  that  after 
her  revolt  from  the  creeds  of  her  youth  and  before 
she  was  thirty  years  old,  her  rehgious  and  moral  sym- 
pathy with  the  historical  life  of  man  had  become  the 
new  seed  of  a  positive  faith  and  a  semi-conservative 
■creed.  This  assertion  is  borne  out  by  several  declara- 
tions of  George  Eliot  herself.      Take  the  following  : 

"  Pray  don't  ask  me  ever  again  not  to  rob  a  man  of  his 
religious  belief,  as  if  you  thought  my  mind  tended  to  such 
robbery.  I  have  too  profound  a  conviction  of  the  efficacy  that 
lies  in  all  sincere  faith,  and  the  spiritual  blight  that  comes 
with  no  faith,  to  have  any  negative  propagandism  in  me.  In 
fact,  I  have  very  little  sympathy  with  Freethinkers  as  a  class, 
and  have  lost  all  interest  in  mere  antagonism  to  religious  doc- 
trines. I  care  only  to  know,  if  possible,  the  last  meaning  that 
lies  in  all  religious  doctrines  from  the  beginning  till  now." 

This  is  not  the  attitude  of  a  blatant  and  aggressive 
unbeliever,  but  the  expression  of  a  truly  reverent  soul. 
Even  as  early  as  1859,  writing  to  her  Genevan  friend 
IM.  D' Albert,  she  states  that  she  had  abandoned  the 
•old  spirit  of  antagonism  which  had  possessed  her  ten 
jears  before.       She  now  sympathises  with  any  faith 


THE   RELIGION   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT  301 

in  which  human  sorrow  and  human  longing  for  purity 
have  expressed  themselves.  She  thinks,  too,  that 
Christianity  is  the  highest  expression  of  rehgious  sen- 
timent that  has  yet  found  its  place  in  the  history  of 
mankind,  and  has  the  profoundest  interest  in  the 
inward  hfe  of  sincere  Christians  in  all  ages. 

And  yet  we  are  not  to  think  of  her  as  anything  but 
an  unbeliever.  We  cannot  but  remember  with  keen 
interest  and  mental  pain  that  despairing  utterance  re- 
vealed to  us  by  the  late  Mr.  F.  W.  H.  Myers  in  the 
Century  Magazine  of  November,  1881.  I  present  it 
in  the  author's  ow^n  w^ords  : 


"  I  remember  how,  at  Cambridge,  I  walked  with  her  once  in 
the  Fellows'  Garden  of  Trinity,  on  an  evening  of  rainy  May ; 
and  she,  stirred  somewhat  beyond  her  wont,  and  taking  as  her 
text  the  three  words  which  have  been  used  so  often  as  the  in- 
spiring trumpet  calls  of  men — the  words  God,  Immortality, 
Dutj' — pronounced  with  terrible  earnestness  how  inconceivable 
was  the  first,  how  unbelievable  the  second,  and  yet  how  im- 
perative and  absolute  the  third.  Never,  perhaps,  have  sterner 
accents  affirmed  the  sovereignty  of  impersonal  and  unrecom- 
pensing  Law.  I  listened,  and  night  fell ;  her  grave,  majestic 
countenance  turned  to  me  like  a  sibyl's  in  the  gloom ;  it  was 
as  though  she  withdrew  from  my  grasp  one  by  one  the  two 
scrolls  of  promise  and  left  me  the  third  scroll  only,  awful  with 
inevitable  fates.  And  when  we  stood  at  length  and  parted, 
amid  that  columnar  circuit  of  the  forest  trees,  beneath  the  last 
twilight  of  starless  skies,  I  seemed  to  be  gazing  like  Titus  at 
Jerusalem  on  vacant  seats  and  empty  halls — on  a  sanctuary 
with  no  presence  to  hallow  it,  and  heaven  left  lonely  of  a 
God." 

For  such  a  state  of  mind  I  have  my  own  simile.  T 
have  often  visited  that  w^eird  yet  lovely  ruin,  the 
picturesque  Tintern  Abbey.  Awed  by  its  fallen 
grandeur  I  have  thought  of  it  roofed  and  pinnacled 


302       THE    TRUE    STORY  OF    GEORGE    ELIOT 

and  filled  with  crowds  of  eager  worshippers.  I  have 
heard  the  organ  peahng  among  the  now  silent  arches, 
and  earth  answering  to  heaven  in  strains  of  music  and 
song.  The  soul  bereft  of  faith  is  like  the  dismantled 
abbey.  Its  songs  of  triumph  have  ceased.  Its  strains 
of  music  are  stilled,  the  harp  hangs  silent  on  the  wil- 
lows, and  the  sacred  minstrelsy  sounds  no  more.  Hope 
has  fled  and  gloom  and  despondency  have  usurped  its 
place.  Indeed,  if  I  am  not  mistaken,  George  Eliot 
had  a  tendency  to  a  low  state  of  physical  health  from 
her  childhood  onward,  and  to  more  or  less  mental 
despondency,  so  much  so  that  I  should  not  wonder  if 
there  were  some  subtle  connection  between  these 
things  and  her  sombre  unbelief.  But,  while  her 
friend,  Mr.  F.  W.  H.  Myers,  lifts  the  veil  that  we  may 
see  how  far  the  heaven  of  the  soul  had  become  clouded 
over  with  doubt,  he  also  helps  us  to  understand  how  it 
is  that  this  dismal  unbelief  does  not  shut  out  the 
possibility  of  another  form  of  religious  life  which  is 
very  real  and  very  potent,  though  wanting  in  joyous 
iaitli.  Later  in  life,  through  the  influence  of  psycho- 
logical investigation,  Mr.  Myers  came  to  a  very  definite 
belief  in  an  unseen  world  of  living  realities  and  says  : 
"If  it  had  not  been  for  this,  in  a  hundred  years  no 
one  would  have  believed  in  the  spiritual  realm  at  all. 
But  because  of  it,  and  as  the  result  of  it,  in  twenty- 
five  years  no  reputable  man  of  science  will  question 
the  fact  of  the  resurrection  of  Jesus."  Had  George 
Eliot  lived  a  few  years  longer,  perhaps  she  also  might 
have  seen  re-erected  for  her  the  stately  temple  of 
faith. 

So  far,  however,  as  one  can  see,  the  words  of  Zang- 
will  express  her  attitude  to  the  last,  on  the  side  of  the 
intellect,  at  least  : 


THE   RELIGION   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT         303 

"  The  nymphs  are  gone,  the  fairies  flown. 
The  olden  presence  is  unknown, 
The  ancient  gods  for  ever  fled, 
The  stars  are  silent  overhead  ; 
The  music  of  the  spheres  is  still, 
The  night  is  dark,  the  wind  is  chill ; 
The  later  gods  have  followed  Pan  ; 
And  man  is  left  alone  with  man." 

Can  there  be  a  religion,  then?  Yes,  says  ]\Ir. 
Myers,  and  this  is  the  rehgion  of  George  Eliot.  He 
shall  describe  it  for  us.  She  lacked,  he  says,  "  some 
aroma  of  hope,  some  fehcity  of  virtue,"  but,  neverthe- 
less she  worked  out  practically  "  The  expansion  of 
the  sense  of  human  fellowship  into  an  influence  strong 
enough  to  compel  us  to  live  for  others,  even  though  it 
be  beneath  the  on-coming  shadow  of  an  endless 
night."  The  urgent  and  obvious  motives  of  well- 
doing with  her  were  "  our  love  and  pity  for  our  fellow- 
men."  One  might  naturally  ask  where  do  these  hi^h 
qualities  find  sach  fall  and  beneficent  flow  as  in  th^ 
life  of  Jesus  of  Nazareth?  But  though  faith  be  not 
there,  there  is  religion,  beautiful  and  blessed,  and 
while  not  the  highest,  yet  influenced  by  the  Christ 
more  than  she  knew. 

There  is  a  little  book  written  under  very  pathetic 

circumstances,  as  its  author  was  consciousl}^  slipping 

down  to  death  while  he  wrote  it,  which  helps  us  to 

gauge  the  religious  message  of  George  Eliot's  works. 

This    book    received    the    imprimatur    of    the    great 

author's  approval,  as  no  other  criticism  of  her  works 

had  done.     Its  theory  received  her  own  endorsement. 

The  author  had  penetrated  her  secret.     The  principle 

which  he  lays  down  is  this  : 

"  That  the  highest  life  of  man  only  begins  when  he  begins  to 
accept  and  to  bear  the  Cross;  and  that  the  conscious  pursuit 


304     THE    TRUE    STORY   OF    GEORGE    ELIOT 

of  happiness  as  his  highest  aim  tends  inevitably  to  enslave  him. 
Even  those  who  read  novels  more  thoughtfully  may  be  startled  to 
find  George  Eliot  put  forward  as  the  representative  of  this 
higher-toned  fiction  with  which  she  has  laboured  to  set  before 
us  the  Christian  and  therefore  the  onlv  exhaustively  true  ideal 
of  life." 

"Yet,  from  the  first,"  says  our  author,  "  this  thought 
and  the  specific  purpose  of  this  teaching  have  never 
been  absent  from  the  writer's  mind  ;  that  it  may  be  de- 
fined as  the  central  aim  of  all  her  works ;  and  that  it 
gathers  in  force,  condensation,  and  power  throughout 
the  series."  The  writer  then  traces  his  central  idea 
through  all  George  Eliot's  works,  and  finds  it  variously 
illustrated  in  every  one  of  them.  Herein  is  a  singular 
compensation  for  the  surrender  of  faith.  This  ex- 
plains why  George  Eliot's  name  is  so  often  heard,  and 
worthily  so,  in  so  many  of  our  Christian  pulpits.  In 
this  way,  rejecting  the  theories  of  inspiration  for  her- 
self, she  has  become  an  inspired  teacher  to  others. 
The  beautiful  divining  of  this  deceased  writer  has 
given  me  a  new  light  on  much  of  George  Eliot's  work, 
and  exhibits  an  infinitely  nobler  purpose  than  the 
penance  and  atonement  theory  of  "T.P." 

It  is  interesting  now  to  remember  that  that  truly 
wonderful  mediaeval  book,  the  Imitation  of  Christ  was, 
along  with  the  Scriptures,  her  life-long  companion. 
In  the  portrait  of  Maggie  Tulliver,  which  George  Ehot 
allows  grew  out  of  her  own  early  life  there  is  an 
account  of  how  Bob  Jakins  brings  to  Maggie  a  collec- 
tion of  books  for  her  entertainment  in  trouble,  and  the 
Imitation  is  one  of  them.  Some  searching  quotations 
are  given,  and  we  are  allowed  to  see  what  a  hold  this 
singular  book  obtained  on  the  soul  of  the  enquiring 
Maggie.     Even  so  was  it  with  George  Eliot  herself, 


THE   RELIGION   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT         305 

and  it  is  not  without  interest  to  know,  on  the  testi- 
mony of  Mr.  F.  W.  H.  Myers,  that  when  she  lay  dead, 
on  the  httle  table  beside  her  bed  there  was  found 
the  familiar  volume  The  Imitation  of  Christ,  the  last 
book  her  eyes  had  glanced  upon.  Not  long  prior  to 
his  decease  the  first  husband,  finding  his  wife  poring 
over  her  small-print  Bible,  bought  for  her  daily  use, 
to  relieve  her  failing  vision,  a  volume  of  the  Scriptures 
with  larger  print.  The  second  husband  lets  us  see 
how  she  loved  her  Bible  to  the  end.  He  tells  us  that 
each  day  after  breakfast  it  was  their  custom  to  read  it 
together,  and  enhghtens  us  on  the  organ  tones  of  her 
voice  as  she  audibly  rendered  chapters  from  the  pro- 
phecies of  Isaiah  and  Jeremiah,  w^hich  were  portions 
specially  favoured,  together  with  the  epistles  of  St. 
Paul.  In  spite  of  her  unrelieved  agnosticism,  George 
Eliot  was  a  better  practical  Christian  than  many  of 
us  who  have  never  known  the  night  of  doubt  at  all. 
How  can  I  do  better  than  quote  here  a  poem  taken 
from  Harper's  Magazine,  entitled  "  George  Eliot. 
Her  Jury." 

GEORGE    ELIOT. 

HER  JURY. 

A  LILY  rooted  in  a  sacred  soil, 

Arrayed  with  those  who  neither  spin  nor  toil ; 

Dinah,  the  preacher,  through  the  purple  air, 

Forever  in  her  gentle  evening  prayer 

Shall  plead  for  Her — what  ear  too  deaf  to  hear? — 

"As  if  she  spoke  to  someone  very  near." 

And  he  of  storied  Florence,   whose  great  heart 
Broke  for  its  human  error ;  wrapped  apart, 
And  scorching  in  the  swift,  prophetic  flamo. 
Of  passion  for  late  holiness,  and  shame 

21 


306      THE    TRUE    STORY   OF    GEORGE    ELIOT 

Than  untried  glory  grander,  gladder,  higher — 
Deathless,  for  Her,  he  "testifies  by  fire." 

A  statue  fair  and  firm  on  marble  feet, 

AVomanhood's  woman,  Dorothea,  sweet 

As  strength,  and  strong  as  tenderness,  to  make 

A  ''struggle  with  the  dark"  for  white  light's  sake. 

Immortal    stands,    unanswered    speaks.     Shall    they. 

Of  Her  great  hand  the  moulded,  breathing  clay, 

Her  fit,  select,  and  proud  survivors  be? — 

Possess  the  life  eternal,  and  not  She? 

The  latest  intimation  of  the  tenor  of  George  E Hot's 
behef  which  has  come  to  me  is  one  that  has  not 
hitherto  appeared  in  print.  It  pertains  to  the  last  few 
months  of  her  life.  To  a  dear  relation,  of  whom  she 
was  justly  proud,  she  said  :  "I  wish  I  could  believe 
as  you  believe."  The  question  was  asked  :  "  What  is 
the  difficulty?"  The  answer  followed  :  "  Only  the 
miraculous."  How  this  brings  to  mind  the  pregnant 
saying  of  the  sceptical  King  of  Prussia,  Frederick  II.  : 
"  O,  happy  Zieten,  how  I  wish  I  could  believe  it!" 
Surely,  in  such  a  state  of  mind,  however  unconquer- 
able the  intellectual  difficulties  may  be,  the  individual 
is  not  far  from  the  Kingdom  of  God.  j 

And  now,  may  I  go  back  a  moment  to  the  poem 
by  Principal  Sharp  ?  Is  there  anything  in  the  dates  of 
canonical  books  or  the  doubts  unresolved  by  science 
to  keep  us  from  the  life  we  are  called  to  live  in  Christ, 
the  work  there  is  given  us  to  do  for  Him  and  the 
death  in  Him  we  have  to  die?  Verily,  no.  It  is  not 
much  that  doubt  can  do  for  us.  Goethe  is  reported  to 
have  said  to  one  who  was  always  imparting  his 
doubts  :  "  If  you  are  certain  of  anything  tell  it  to  me. 
I  have  doubts  enough  of  my  own."  Both  the  church 
and  the  world  want  faith  rather  than  doubt,  and  faith 


THE   RELIGION   OF   GEORGE   ELIOT         307 

will  always  justify  itself  in  the  life  and  experience  of 
truly  intelligent  souls.  To  them  the  voice  from 
heaven  will  be  a  living  experience,  radiant  with  lasting 
peace  : 

"  Come  unto  Me  and  rest, 
Believe  Me  and  be  blest." 


THE   KND 


PRINTKD   BY 

F.  J.   MANSFIELIX 

ERITH.  S.E. 


/^    ^ 


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